Doing Time in Valhalla
by AshleySue
Summary: Sequel to Time Off for Good Behavior. As Sookie and Eric settle in to married life and prepare for the birth of their twins, outside forces threaten to separate them forever.
1. Chapter 1

"I look like a beached whale, Pam."

She sighed in exasperation as she turned and walked to the couch I was sitting on. "Sookie, you do NOT look like a beached whale! How many times do I have to tell you that before you actually begin to believe it?"

"You can say it as much as you want to, that doesn't make it the truth!" Yeah, so it was the way a five year old would respond, I didn't care.

"Sookie, you know I love you like a sister, but if you don't stop complaining and cheer up, no one's going to want to stay more than just a few minutes."

"They'll just have to LEARN to deal with it! I'm hot, tired, and VERY pregnant! Besides, isn't this MY baby shower? What happened to all the 'it's my party I can cry if I want to' stuff?"

She closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath to calm herself down. Then, she walked to where I was sitting, and put her hand over my mouth to make sure I understood that interruptions would not be tolerated. "Sookie, I understand that you're very uncomfortable. You're 7 ½ months pregnant with twins, it's hotter than hell outside, and you've been going mad with boredom since you were put on bed rest. I'm sorry that you're so miserable, truly I am. But, enough is enough. No more of this misery loves company bull shit. These women are coming over here today because they love you, want to support you, and want to help you ease into motherhood. Alienating them now will only cause you, Eric, and my little niece and nephew problems in the future. Now, cheer the fuck up!"

I laughed despite myself. That was such a 'Pam' thing to say. It made me look back at my life for a moment and wonder if I'd ever had another friend who was as wonderfully blunt as Pam was. When I realized I hadn't, I smiled up at her. "You're right, and I'm sorry. I know that I've been a little bit of a brat lately," I paused to stick my tongue out at her as she looked skeptical at the word little. "I can't promise that I'll be all sunshine and daisies at the shower, but, I will most certainly try to be gracious. Is that good enough?"

"I suppose it will have to be." She playfully rolled her eyes. "I'll tell you what, though. If that old crazy friend of your Grandmother's acts like her normal self, you can feel more than free to put her in her place."

I smiled brightly. "Yes, I do believe that telling Maxine Fortenberry to shut the hell up **would** brighten my day. It might even make me happy enough to talk Eric into giving you and Felicia the cabin for the weekend."

Her entire face brightened as she smiled. It was amazing to see how much Pam had changed in the past few months. Shortly after Eric and I had gotten married, they made a decision to open a restaurant not far from their club, Hell's Inferno. Pam threw herself into decorating the building, compiling a menu, and hiring staff while Eric continued to run the club. During this time, she spent long hours with the woman she'd hired to manage the restaurant. It came as no surprise to Eric and I when, on opening night, Pam told us that she and Felicia were ready for everyone to know they were together. Of course, we'd both suspected as much from almost the first time we saw them together.

Just like Eric and Pam, Felicia had not grown-up in the United States. Her mother was a much celebrated chef, and her father taught Philosophy at a university just outside of London. Drawing from their knowledge of old myths, they decorated the restaurant to be their own personal version of paradise, and named it Valhalla.

I watched as Pam began setting various plates of goodies on a long buffet table she'd rented for the occasion. We had argued long and hard about what type of food would be served at the shower. Pam wanted more upscale dishes like caviar, while I was leaning more towards little wieners on toothpicks. We finally compromised and settled on a variety of vegetables, fruits, crackers and dips, along with muffins, sweet breads, scones, and various cookies and cakes.

She began straightening some pictures on the fireplace mantle, and I smiled as she ran her hand over the frame which held a picture of Eric and I on our wedding day. I closed my eyes and allowed my mind to wander back to that wonderful day.

_It was a beautiful spring day. Flowers had begun to bloom in the gardens surrounding the old farmhouse, and you could hear birds chirping in the nearby woods. I stood in my bedroom in front of the full-length mirror, turning side to side to gaze at my reflection in my wedding dress._

"_You may as well give it up, Sookie. No matter how hard you try, you won't be able to find an angle where you actually LOOK pregnant!" Pam said, standing in the doorway and smiling. She'd known I was very self-conscious about looking like a pregnant bride. I smiled back at her through the mirror._

"_I guess I'll take your word for it. Let's face it, you're probably the only person who would be completely honest with me and not lie to save my feelings!"_

"_Yes, I always have found that honesty is the best policy. That being said," She walked over and placed her chin on my shoulder, "you look absolutely beautiful." I turned and hugged her. Pam was the closest thing I'd had to a sister since my cousin Hadley passed away so many years ago, and I was grateful for her friendship._

_Something must have caught her eye, because she pulled slightly away from me and walked to the window. I followed her, and saw Eric in the yard talking to some of our recently arrived guests. He was shaking hands with Sam, who was on crutches. He'd torn his ACL playing football with a bunch of friends a couple of weeks before, and had needed surgery to repair it._

_I couldn't help but feel that the scene seemed oddly familiar. I could tell that Pam was thinking the same thing, because she tilted her head slightly and bit her lip in thought. At the same moment that it clicked in my head, she started to laugh, having figured it out as well. We laughed and looked at each other, and in unison said, "Forest Gump and Lieutenant Dan!" We laughed at the hilarity of the situation, but were soon interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat._

_I turned to see my brother, Jason, standing in the doorway. "Wow. Sookie, you look wonderful," he said, his voice thick with emotion. _

_I smiled, walked over to him and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "You're looking pretty nice yourself." He was wearing a black tux, with a black vest and red tie. I'd never seen him dressed this nicely, not even for his own wedding._

_Pam moved passed us and went out into the hallway, giving us a chance to be alone. "Sookie, I know I haven't been the best brother in the world." That was the understatement of the year. "But, I want you to know that I love you, and I'm real proud of you. And, I know that Hadley and Gran would be proud of you, too." _

"_Oh, hush up now. You're gonna make me cry and smear my make-up!" _

_He smiled at me and pulled a small box from his pocket. "Before Gran died, she gave me this, and made me promise that I'd not let you see it until your wedding day. She said that she wore it on the day she got married, and that Mama wore it when she married Daddy. Now, it's your turn to wear it for Eric. And, I hope that someday, I'll get to see your little girl wear it for her wedding as well." He opened the box, and removed a beautiful antique hair comb in the shape of a flower, with a diamond in the center. I immediately recognized it from our parents wedding pictures. I ran my thumb over the comb, and felt a single tear run down my cheek. He walked with me back to the mirror, and watched as I placed it in my hair underneath my veil. _

"_Come on now, you two. It's time!" Said Pam from the doorway. Jason turned towards the door and offered me his arm. I linked mine with his, and he walked with me down the stairs, towards the back porch. The backyard had been beautifully transformed. Jason had always enjoyed working with wood, so he'd built a large deck and bowery and painted it white. A few rows of white chairs were set up in front of the bowery, and a long red carpet had been rolled down the aisle. Red had always been Eric's favorite color, so, I'd decided to use red and white as our colors._

_Jason gave me a kiss on the cheek, then stepped to the edge of the porch. Pam winked at me, and took her place next to Jason, and he escorted her up the aisle. We'd decided to have a fairly small wedding, inviting only our closest friends. Since neither Eric nor I had much family to speak of, Jason was acting as best man, and Pam was maid of honor, and there were our sole attendants._

_I was still hidden in the shadow of the porch, so I knew that Eric couldn't see me. But, I couldn't take my eyes off of him as he smiled as Pam and Jason walked towards him together. Pam was wearing a short red dress to match Jason's tie, and the flowers she was holding were white and red roses that matched the dress perfectly. Once they reached Eric, Pam gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, and they took their places, and turned to me._

_As much as I wanted to keep my eyes on Eric, I had to look down at my feet as I descended the short staircase from the porch, and walked to the deck. The moment I stood on the wooden deck, however, I lifted my gaze to his. I'd made him follow tradition, and knew that this was the first time he'd seen me in my dress. The smile that appeared on his face the moment our eyes met made me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world. I couldn't help but feel a flutter in my tummy at how wonderful he looked in his tux. He was wearing a black tux that matched Jason's, but, both his vest and tie were red. We smiled at each other, and with each step I took, I was more and more certain that this was the man I'd been waiting my whole life for._

_As I reached the top of the aisle, I handed my bouquet of red roses to Pam, and turned, smiling at Eric as he took my hands in his. The judge who'd been such a help to us in the past had agreed to perform the ceremony, and as he began to speak, everything else faded away, as I gazed into the eyes of my future. _

_I can only assume that everything went fine during the ceremony, but I'm not sure how, because I was so lost in Eric's eyes, that I honestly didn't pay much attention. Oh, I'd said the right things at the right time, but, if Pam hadn't made me rehearse it about fifty times in the past 24 hours, I'm sure I would've messed up. I heard the judge tell Eric to kiss his bride, and I closed my eyes and felt his lips touch mine. As I opened them as Eric ended the kiss, I saw a single tear running down his cheek. I smiled, and reached up to wipe it away under the guise of cupping his cheek. He leaned into my hand, smiled back at me._

I was brought out of my memories when I heard the doorbell ringing. Pam turned to me, said, "show time!" and went to answer the door. I heard the voices of several different women as she opened the door, and I pasted the best smile I could muster on my face as Maxine Fortenberry walked into my home. This was going to be a long day.

**A/N Those of you who are familiar with my stories know that I try to post a new chapter every other day, if not every day. Unfortunately, that will not be the case with this one. Not that I'm not looking forward to posting. But, I work for the postal service, and this is our busy time of the year. Starting with my next shift, I'm going from working 25 a week, to anywhere between 40-60, plus I still have holiday shopping to do, and a 2-year old to take care of. I'll try to post as often as I can, though**

**Links to Sookie's wedding dress, Pam's bridesmaids dress, and Eric's tux are on my profile. Please read and review! Enjoy!!**


	2. Chapter 2

**EPOV**

I sat in my office at Hell's Inferno, trying to keep my mind focused on work. We'd been trying to renegotiate our contract with a few of our alcohol suppliers, and it wasn't going as well as I'd hoped. Pam and I had been trying to work it so we'd get a slightly better price, since we were more than doubling our current order amounts in order to provide for the club as well as our new restaurant, Valhalla. Most of the companies we worked with were more than happy to accommodate. One, however, was holding out, and it was becoming more than just a slight thorn in my side.

I heard my cell phone chime, alerting me that I'd received a new text message. I picked it up, and couldn't help but smile when I saw the message was from Sookie. By now, she would be about halfway through with her baby shower, and I'm sure she was more than ready to kill a few of the guests. She was quite far along in her pregnancy, and we'd spoken at length about how uncomfortable she was. I also know that she's been bored stiff since being put on bed rest three weeks ago. Put those together with her already raging hormones (her words, not mine), plus a couple of older women who already irritate her to no end, well, let's just say I'm sure it wasn't a pretty picture.

_Sookie: I hope you're not too tired when you're done working, because I may need you to load a body into your trunk and go out into the woods and bury it._

_Eric: Things going that well at the shower, are they?_

_Sookie: I swear if Maxine Fortenberry makes one more snide remark about me being pregnant when we got married, and then not inviting her to the wedding, she will end up six feet under._

_Eric: Calm down, breathe. Don't let her get you so worked up. She's not worth the stress it puts on you, Ryan and Hadley._

I was hoping that would help calm her down. She loved it whenever I refer to our unborn children by their names. When I asked her why that was once, she said it was because it's beautiful to know them so well, considering we've never even met them.

_Sookie: Fine. But you owe me BIG TIME for this. I'm thinking a 30-minute foot rub will need to be attended to the agenda for this evening._

_Eric: Absolutely, my darling. Anything for you. I should be home in another hour or so. I love you._

_Sookie: Love you too._

I stood to make my way to grab a file from Pam's office, but stopped short and was forced to close my eyes while I waited for the pain to subside. I'd been experiencing odd stomach cramps off and on for the past couple of days, along with indigestion. I was fairly certain it was due to stress, most likely an ulcer. My father had experienced problems with them for quite some time, so it made sense to me that I'd deal with it as well. I grabbed a couple of antacids from my desk drawer, and tried my best to ignore it.

I got the file I was looking for, and went back to my office and began revising a document on my laptop. I was so engrossed in what I was doing, it startled me slightly when I heard my phone chirp again.

_Sookie: I thought you said you'd be home soon?_

_Eric: I did. I'm just finishing up a new proposal for the supplier._

_Sookie: Well, it's almost dark outside, and the shower has already been over for two hours. Should I have Pam bring you some dinner, or are you going to come home?_

_Eric: I'm sorry, love, I lost track of time. I'll leave here in five minutes. Be home soon._

I finished the paragraph I was working on, saved the document, and returned the file to Pam's office, before locking my own office door and turning towards the parking lot. Claude Crane, our new floor manager, was just getting ready to leave as well. I'd considered myself extremely lucky to have hired Claude. His eye for details was impeccable, and my previous floor manager, Clancy, had never run things half as well as Claude did now. I knew I owed Sookie for that. She'd gone to college with Claude's twin sister, Claudine, and immediately suggested him for the job when we spoke of it several months previously.

"Eric, headed home?" He smiled as he saw me.

"Yeah, I meant to get out of here a few hours ago, but, I must have lost track of time."

"Can't say as I blame ya. With Sookie's baby shower being today, if I were in your shoes, I would've 'lost track of time' myself." I laughed with him, knowing he didn't mean it seriously. "Ya know, you're not looking so good. Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, I've just had some stomach pains recently. I'd like to get in to see my doctor, I think it might be an ulcer." Almost out of nowhere, the entire room started to swim around me. I stumbled slightly, and Claude grabbed my arm to try and steady me.

"Are you sure you're okay to drive? I can give you a lift, or call Pam if you need me to." His voice suddenly sounded much further away than it should have. I opened my mouth to answer him, and then everything around me went dark.

**SPOV**

Right around the same time I'd expected Eric to be getting home from the club, Pam had received a phone call from a very frantic Claude, saying that Eric had fainted at work, and that he was awaiting an ambulance. By the time Pam and I got to the hospital to meet them, Eric's was already in surgery. Not long afterwards, a surgeon came out to speak with us.

"It's nothing to worry about, Mrs. Northman. It looks as though your husband inaccurately assumed that he was suffering from an ulcer recently, however, he was actually experiencing appendicitis. We were able to get him into surgery before the appendix burst, however, and it seems he'll make a full recovery. We'd like to keep him overnight so we can put him on some antibiotics and monitor him, but, he should be able to go home tomorrow afternoon, unless there's some complication."

A nurse led Pam and I to one of the recovery rooms, and I let out a sigh of relief when I saw Eric. He was still sleeping, and the nurse said that he probably would probably sleep for a while longer still, because he hadn't completely come out of the anesthesia yet. I pressed a kiss to his forehead, and then tried to get comfortable in the chair next to the bed. Pam handed me a magazine, and I soon found myself flipping through the latest celebrity gossip.

After a couple of hours passed, Pam said she was going to run down the street to Starbucks, and that she'd be back shortly. Despite not being able to get comfortable, I found myself dozing off in the chair. I woke up when I heard Eric's familiar voice whisper my name. I stood, and took his hand in mine.

"Hey there, you. How do you feel?" I asked him, smiling brightly at him.

"Groggy. Why am I here? The last thing I remember, I was in the bar talking to Claude. What happened?"

"Well, you fainted, and Claude called an ambulance. Turns out it wasn't an ulcer that's been bothering your stomach. You had your appendix removed a couple hours ago."

"Wow. Bad timing. When can I go home?"

"The doctor said that you should be released tomorrow. They just want to keep you on antibiotics and monitor you overnight." At that moment, Pam walked into the room, smiling when she saw Eric.

"Well, look who finally decided to join the land of the living." He rolled his eyes and smiled back at her. She picked up the magazine I'd been reading, and sat down opposite me and began to flip through it, while Eric asked me mundane questions about how the shower had gone.

About an hour after he woke up, Eric said, "Sookie, maybe you should just go home and get some rest. I know you'd be much more comfortable at home in bed, rather than sitting here in that terrible chair."

As I opened my mouth to protest, the door to his room opened, and a nurse walked in. I moved out of her way, and she checked Eric's temperature and blood pressure, before changing his IV bag and asking if he'd like a pain killer. He accepted, and she used a small syringe to inject it into his IV tube.

Not five minutes later, Eric was beginning to act groggy again, so I reluctantly agreed to go home and rest as well, since he would most likely be asleep soon anyway. Pam squeezed his hand and told him goodnight, and then stepped aside for me. I leaned in and kissed him softly on his lips, and giggled slightly when he raised his arm to pull me back to him for another kiss when the first had ended.

"I'll come back first thing in the morning so I can check with your doctor, alright love?" I asked.

"Alright, sounds good. Go home and get some rest, beautiful."

I walked to the door (let's face it, I'm extremely pregnant with twins, it really was more of a waddle than a walk), and turned just as I reached Pam.

"I love you, Eric," I called back to my husband.

"I love you too, Cindy."


	3. Chapter 3

**Pam POV**

No. It must've been some sort of mistake. My ears must have been playing tricks on me. There's no way I just heard Eric call Sookie by my sisters name. Without moving a muscle, I shifted my gaze to take in Sookie's face. Her eyes were pressed closed, and her features indicated she was in deep concentration as she slowly breathed in and out. After watching this for a moment, I reached out and took her hand in mine. Her eyes popped open, she shook her head slightly, and whispered, "Come on, let's go home."

Once we were in the car and headed back towards home, I finally decided to break the anxious silence surrounding us.

"Sookie, what did…" but she interrupted before I could finish my sentence.

"Pam, it's fine. I'm not mad. Eric just had surgery, and he's doped up on pain killers. While he was completely out of it, he accidentally called me by your sister's name. It's fine. He most likely won't remember it, so I want to forget it happened as well."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. How could she NOT be upset at this? Sure, I understood what she meant about not being angry with him. If he'd been entirely lucid, it would've been another story all together. But, how could she just ignore that it even happened? That's when it dawned on me.

"That isn't the first time it's happened, is it?" I waited impatiently for her answer.

She sighed, and brought her hands up to cradle her forehead. "No, it's not."

By the tone of her voice, I could tell that she was quite uncomfortable with the subject. Normally, I would've said screw it and pushed for more information. But, the last thing that Sookie's body needed right now was to be stressed out. I would drop it for now, but, there was no way I was just going to let it go.

**SPOV**

The moment we got back to the house, Pam helped me change into my pajamas and got me into bed. My back and feet were aching, and I would've loved to take a nice warm bath. But, as exhausted as I was, we both knew there was too much risk of me falling asleep and sliding under the water, so I would just have to settle for a heating pad.

I knew that Pam wanted to talk more about what had happened at the hospital. I had hoped that it was something she'd never know about. But, the cat was out of the bag now, and knowing her, she'd find a way to get me to talk.

I smiled as I reflected on my relationship with my sister-in-law. Growing up, my cousin Hadley and I had been nearly inseparable. After she was killed, I stopped hanging out with my other friends, opting to stay at home with Gran and Jason instead. Sure, I made some friends in college, and I kept in touch with a few of them, but, I'd never found anyone that I felt I could pour my heart out to. When I fell in love with Eric, I didn't just gain a wonderful husband, but I'd gained a sister as well. These days, it seemed that Pam knew me better than either Eric or I did, a fact which irritated Eric to no end.

I allowed my happy thoughts of them lull me into sleep. When I woke in the morning, I could remember that I'd dreamt, but, for the life of me couldn't recall a single detail. I didn't have much time to wonder about it though, because I knew if I didn't get my butt into the bathroom, I'd be changing my sheets. I'd always laughed when pregnant women talked about how frequently they needed to pee, but I knew now that it was no longer a laughing matter. I'm convinced that Ryan is going to be a soccer player, and has decided that Mommy's bladder is his perfect practice ball. It wouldn't surprise me if he left me with internal bruising!

I pulled my hair into a ponytail, brushed my teeth and washed my face, and waddled my way back out to my bedroom. I wasn't surprised to see Pam sitting on my bed, with a tray full of food waiting for me. The very moment the aroma of French toast reached me, I could've died and gone to heaven. Pam smiled and winked, and I just laughed. She knew me well.

She helped me to sit up with about a million pillows behind me, and then placed the tray in front of me. I immediately picked up my two vitamins and chased them down with a large gulp of orange juice, and heard Pam mumble "good girl." Almost as soon as I had the first bite of glorious, sugary, cinnamony, syrupy goodness in my mouth, she started in on me.

"Spill." That's all she needed to say. She knew that I knew what she wanted to know.

I thought about stalling by chewing very slowly, but the large rumbling sound coming from my tummy at that moment changed my mind. As I put my fork back to the plate to load another mouthful on it, I looked to her and said, "Pam, it really isn't fair of you to want to have a serious conversation with me first thing in the morning, considering that I'm not allowed to have coffee until after the babies are born." I thrust another forkful of food into my mouth whilst waiting for her reply.

"Well, just another reason to be thankful that life isn't fair. **Now spill!**"

"Oh, alright," I said before taking another sip of juice. "Cindy and the kids were really on his mind at the end of April," I looked into her eyes very seriously, and knew that she was aware that I was referring to the anniversary of their deaths. "He had nightmares a few times and would call out to them in his sleep. When I tried to talk to him about it, he said he was ashamed of it because it made him look weak. And, even though I knew that was absurd, I didn't bring it up again. A few weeks later, he was running late to get to the club, and I had left a pair of shoes in the middle of the floor, and he kinda tripped on them. He said 'damnit, Cindy, you need to put your shoes away from now on, please,' and just left the room." I took another bite of food, waiting to see if she wanted to comment.

"And what did he say when you called him on it?"

Oh dear, this could get really ugly, really fast. "Well, um, I never told him."

"Sookie, why the hell not?" She was becoming more and more aggravated by the second.

"I honestly don't think he realized he'd done it, Pam. It was right when you guys were getting ready to open Valhalla; he'd been working long hours and not getting much sleep. I didn't want to add more stress on top of that."

She let out a long, deep sigh. "Sookie, I get that you're trying to be strong, and not let it affect you. Please believe me when I say that it's a noble thing to do. But, honestly, it's only going to get worse unless you guys talk about it. If he doesn't know it's happening, how is he supposed to make it better?"

I pondered that for a few minutes while I finished my French toast. Just as I was preparing to respond, my cell phone rang. I recognized the hospital phone number, and indicated to Pam that I needed to take the call.

"Sookie Northman," I said. Pam chuckled when she noticed that I still smiled happily whenever I said my new name.

"Mrs. Northman, I'm calling from Shreveport General Hospital. We just wanted to inform you that your husband's discharge papers have been signed, and the doctor said he can go home whenever you're ready to pick him up."

"Oh, thank you so much for calling. Someone will be there right away." I hung up, and told Pam the news.

"Ya know, yesterday was a pretty busy day for you, so I think that you should stay here and relax, and I'll go pick him up." Part of me was grateful for her offer so I could rest, but, I wasn't sure I could trust her. She must've guessed as much by my facial expression. "I need to touch base with him anyway about how to continue negotiating with our liquor providers. I'm sure he'll need to take off a couple of days to rest, but we can't afford to not be working on it, so he'll need to bring me up to speed on the issue.

It sounded kinda fishy, but, I decided to trust her. "Fine. Thank you. And, thank you for breakfast, too, by the way."

She stood up and walked towards the door, but stopped at the last minute and looked at me over her shoulder. "No problem, Sookie darling. What are sisters good for, if not helping out with problems?" Then, she left. And I had a sinking suspicions her conversations with Eric on the drive home would have NOTHING to do with the restaurant.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N My apologies for those of you who got multiple alerts that this chapter was up, and then it wasn't actually there. Apparently, was having some issues (what else is new), and the alerts weren't going out, and the chapter was deleted. I'm very sorry for the inconvenience, and as a special way of saying thank you for your patience, I'm currently working on the next chapter and hope to have it up by Monday!!!**

**EPOV**

I was antsy as all hell. I wanted nothing more than to be anywhere but where I was. Idly sitting around in a hospital bed staring out the window was not productive. The doctor said that I needed to rest, to give my incision time to heal. He'd already told me that going into work was out of the question for at least a week. After much arguing, he finally gave in and told me that as long as I stayed at home and in bed, I could sit up and work on my laptop. Pam and I just have too much going on right now for one of us to be completely out of commission.

I heard a quick knock at the door, and smiled, excited to see Sookie. Pam laughed at the disappointed look on my face when I discovered she'd come to spring me instead of my wife. But, she explained that Sookie was at home resting, because she'd had enough excitement yesterday, due not only to my surgery, but her baby shower as well. I smiled to myself when I thought of how protective Pam had become of Sookie. I never imagined that Pam should shun Sookie, or be rude to her, but, I hadn't expected for the two of them to become so close, either. Knowing that they'd each lost their closest female companion too early in life, it was wonderful watching them grow close.

After much teasing by Pam about the hospital's policy of patients leaving in a wheelchair, we were finally in the car and on our way back home. Pam asked how long until I was allowed to go back to work, and I filled her in on the progress I'd made on liquor negotiations the day before. After I'd caught her up on everything about the businesses, she grew silent, and her body stiffened, a sure sign that something was wrong.

"Out with it, Pam. You know that I can tell when something is bothering you." I gazed at her with my eyebrows raised, wondering what was eating at her.

"How much of your visit with Sookie last night do you remember?"

I was puzzled by this. "Well, I remember talking to her about the surgery, and she told me all about the shower. Then, the nurse gave me my pain meds, and the two of you left, and I went to sleep." She was biting her lip now. Never a good sign. "Would you just stop with the evasiveness, please?"

She took a deep breath, and began to speak. "Eric, last night as we were leaving the hospital, you said something that upset Sookie. Now, before you get all indignant, let me assure you that it was after you'd been medicated, and Sookie understands that, and is not mad at you. But, no matter how hard she tries, she can't hide the fact that she's hurt." She paused, and I wanted to smack her for it. A moment later, she went on. "While we were walking out of the room, Sookie told you that she loved you, and you said you loved her, too, but…." If she didn't get to the point soon we'd both end up back in the hospital.

"Pam, just say it already!"

She turned to look at me (thank goodness we were stopped at a red light at the time), and said, "Eric, you called her Cindy."

I felt my heart drop into the pit of my stomach. Sure, I'd been heavily medicated, and Pam already said that Sookie wasn't mad at me for what I'd said. But that didn't keep me from feeling like biggest fuck-up of a husband. I dropped my head into my hands, took a deep breath, and rubbed my eyes for a moment to collect myself. Then, I lifted my head and began to speak. "Did she tell you about the other time it happened?"

Pam seemed a little shocked. Maybe Sookie hadn't told her? "She told me that had said it once when you almost tripped over her shoes when you were in a hurry, but, she didn't think you were aware of it."

"Yeah, I wasn't at the time. But, something kept bothering me the whole way into the club after that. It was until she called me later that night and I saw her name on my caller id that I'd realized what I'd done. I wanted to talk to her about it, and apologize, but, she just acted like it had never happened. Part of me hoped that she hadn't realized I'd done it, but, she's way too perceptive to miss something like that."

We sat in silent thought for a moment while she maneuvered us through a busy intersection. "She said you'd had a few bad nights in April." I just nodded, not wanting to remember the dreams. Dreams that had me so worked up, I was actually scared to go to sleep for almost a month afterwards. "Eric, the nightmares at that time of year, I get. That makes sense. But, what the hell happened to suddenly make you call Sookie by the wrong name, twice?"

I turned to look out the window, not wanting to see her reaction to what I was about to tell her. "I _see_ them, Pam. Everywhere I go. The first time, I was in the mall with Sookie, and we walked past a perfume counter, and I picked up the faintest trace of Cindy's perfume, and I saw someone with the same color hair. But, I always knew things like that would happen. But then, about a week later, I swear I saw her at the grocery store. Little things like that kept happening, and I just figured it was my mind playing tricks on me, because we were so busy getting ready to open the restaurant, and Sookie and I were stressed getting ready for the babies. But, it's gotten worse and worse. When I went to pick up some dinner for Sookie one night, I saw a woman holding a little girl, and I swear to God it looked so much like Cindy and Lizzie that it took my breath away. They started to move away from me, and I tried to follow, to catch up with them. To make matters worse, I heard Lizzie's voice say, "Daddy." They turned a corner, and by the time I got there, they were gone."

I continued to stare out the window, waiting for her to give some kind of reaction. What I finally heard was not at all what I'd expected. I heard a small sniffle, and turned to see tears rolling down her cheeks. As tactfully as I could, I handed her a tissue from the package in her glove compartment and let her compose herself. A moment later, she took my hand in hers and squeezed down tightly.

"Eric, I miss them, too. Every day. I know that when they were killed you lost your entire world. I also know how hard you worked to move on. And now, you've got a beautiful, wonderful, caring companion in Sookie, who is due to bring two beautiful children into the world in just a few weeks. They deserve your full attention. YOU deserve to be able to enjoy every moment with your wife as you prepare for the birth of your twins. I know that you didn't make the choice for this to happen to you. But, it needs to be _you_ who makes the choice to do something about it."

I nodded in agreement. "Pam, I'll never forget them, and I'll always love and miss them, but, I want to be able to focus on Sookie, Hadley and Ryan. I just don't know how."

She laughed. "Well, I'd better mark this occasion on my calendar. Eric Northman just admitted that there's something he **doesn't** know!" I laughed with her, and felt the tension we'd been stuck in ease away.

After another moment, she continued. "Eric, you need talk to Sookie about it. And I know that's not going to be easy." Now there was the understatement of the year. "But, first off, she's your wife, she deserves to know. But, also, she can probably give you all kinds of ideas on what to do. She studied sociology in college, and we both know that she's probably more qualified than half the grief counselors in the state. Talk to her. She's your best bet to get through this and back to your life as it should be."

I stayed silent for the rest of the ride home, thinking about what she'd said. I knew she was right; I definitely needed to deal with this. The only thing holding me back was Sookie's pregnancy. Carrying the twins has already taken such a toll on her body, the last thing I want to do is unload more stress on her. But, if we just continue on as we've been doing, it'll just get worse for both of us, anyway. And, knowing my Sookie, she'll be excited about having a task to work on. She's always been happiest when she was helping someone else. Being on bed rest and having everyone focus on her was not something she was comfortable with.

When we pulled into the garage, Pam helped me into the house, and I slowly made my way down the hallway to the bedroom, while Pam went to her apartment to get some things and head to the club. I saw that the bedroom door was open just a crack, so I peeked in, and couldn't help but smile at what I saw. Sookie was asleep, lying on her side, a pillow wedged between her knees, a heating pad against the small of her back, and a fan blowing directly onto her face. In that moment, as I remembered how important she was to me, I knew that I'd talk to her about my "Cindy sightings" later that afternoon.

I grabbed a glass of water and downed it along with one of my pain pills, and crawled into my bed with my wife, spooning her from behind. I wrapped my arm around her and laced her fingers with mine, pressed a kiss to the back of her neck, and let myself drift off to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Two weeks later…**

**SPOV**

As much as I was upset with Eric for keeping secrets from me, my anger was easily drowned out by my concern for his wellbeing. The last thing that anyone wants or needs is to be experience delusional sightings of their dead family. But, more importantly, seeing these things could be a side effect of a much bigger problem.

On the off chance that it could possibly be some sort of tumor, or another type of brain-related illness or injury, we made an appointment to have a few tests run. Needless to say, we were both tremendously relieved when they all came back normal. I also discussed with Eric's doctor whether or not these "visions" could've been a side-effect of the beginning of his appendicitis. His doctor said although it was vaguely possible, it was extremely unlikely, so we ruled that out as well.

Since I was stuck at home on bed rest, I spent everyday pouring over books and websites, researching all the possibilities. With all of the information I'd gathered, it seemed that the most likely answer was the most obvious one. His nightmares around the anniversary of the accident could've triggered a belated form of post traumatic stress syndrome. Because of the shooting and his incarceration happening so quickly after the deaths of his family, his mind may have never fully accepted the grieving process, and was now breaking down from it.

Pam and Felicia joined us for dinner at the house as often as work would allow, and the four of us discussed the matter very openly. Pam was very concerned about Eric in all of this for multiple reasons. First off, he was family. But, also, she was worried about the stress it would put on me, and the babies. She was also worried about what the distraction could do to them concerning their businesses. As Felicia began to absorb just how worried Pam was, she became more and more concerned as well. It was quite sweet to see that Felicia was worried about something simply because Pam was. I knew that Felicia made Pam very happy, and I was very glad that they'd found each other.

We started to ease back into the routine we'd established as the days went on. Before I knew it, we were only 5 days away from the twins due date. We'd had everything ready for them for awhile, so, we weren't worried as far as that was concerned. My bag for the hospital was packed, and sitting on a table next to the front door of the house. I always had my cell phone with me, and I kept it fully charged. Eric tried to be at home with me as often as possible, but, sometimes work demanded he leave, but when he did, Pam, Jason or even Sam would be at the house with me. I was becoming more uncomfortable physically every day, but, the impending arrival of our children kept me pretty upbeat.

After many phone calls, Pam and Eric had finally come to an agreement with the last of their liquor suppliers, and had a scheduled meeting so they could sign new contracts. I knew that having this worked out was going to take a load off of both of their minds. Because they both had to be in attendance at that meeting, Sam was at the house with me, and we were working away in my bedroom. Sam sat at a small desk not far from my bed, and he was getting my input on some policy changes for the halfway house. I was glad that he'd wanted my opinion, but honestly wondered if he only was asking because he knew how much I missed my job. I didn't miss spending all my time in an office, and I certainly didn't miss the stress, but, I missed that feeling of being productive. My job always made me feel like I was doing something good for society in general and I'd missed feeling that way since going on maternity leave.

A little over 24 hours ago, I'd begun experiencing some mild contractions. I had spoken with my doctor on the phone, and she said it was most likely Braxton Hicks contractions, because they were so mild and infrequent. She told me that if they started to become more intense, and happen more often, to go to the hospital. Eric wanted to stay home from his meeting, just in case, but Pam and I convinced him to go. I'd told him that if it got to the point that I needed to go to the hospital, I'd call him right away.

Since just before Pam and Eric left, the contractions were steadily getting more painful, and were coming closer together. I kept an eye on my watch, and they were still about 45 minutes apart. I made the decision to wait until there was 30 minutes or less between contractions before mentioning anything to Sam about it. I didn't want to go to the hospital without Eric unless I absolutely had to. Thank goodness Sam was looking so intently at his laptop, because I didn't think my facial expressions were hiding the pain so well anymore.

After another two hours, I'd noticed that the contractions were coming about 25 minutes apart, so I knew that I couldn't wait any longer. Sam had gone to the kitchen to get himself a soda, and I decided that as soon as he returned, I'd tell him that it was time to call Eric and go to the hospital. But, before Sam returned, I heard the sounds of a car pulling into the garage, and realize that Eric and Pam had returned, which was a huge relief to me.

Just as I was beginning to wonder what was taking so long for them to come into the bedroom, I heard raised voices in the hallway. It was easy to tell that something had both Eric and Pam very irritated. They burst into the room a moment later. Eric came and sat on the bed next to me, and pressed a kiss to my forehead.

"Sookie, love, there's something very important that I need to tell you," Eric said. This did NOT sound good at all. But, I knew that I needed to let Eric know that we needed to be getting to the hospital.

"I have something pretty important I need to tell you, too," I said, hoping he'd let me go first. But, no such luck.

"Darling, this is very important, so, if you don't mind, I'll go first." He didn't wait for me to say anything before diving right in. "Things went so well at the meeting, that Pam and I decided that we wanted to celebrate. So, we stopped at the market to get everything that was needed to make a special dinner. Just as we were getting ready to get in line at the checkout, I thought I heard Lizzie's voice, again. I immediately started looking around for the source. I saw them again, Sookie." He paused for a moment, and turned to Pam, as if waiting for her to say something.

"Here's the thing, though," he continued on when she kept silent. "Pam saw them, too."

My eyes shot immediately to my sister-in-law. If she'd seen them as well, that meant it wasn't just in Eric's head. What the hell did this mean? I wasn't able to even begin processing the information, though, as another very painful contraction took over my body. I grabbed Eric's hand and held it in a death grip. He FINALLY looked at me with concern.

"Sookie, what is it? What's wrong? Are you in pain?"

I didn't need to answer, because at that very moment, my water broke.


	6. Chapter 6

**EPOV**

For the first time in several months, I allowed myself to just be happy. With the wedding, the pregnancy, the new restaurant, and, well, everything else, I'd barely had time to just enjoy my life. But, now, as I sat in a chair, rocking my newborn daughter, while I watched my wife nurse our son, I couldn't help but be overwhelmed with joy.

I always knew Sookie was incredible, but, she proved it many times again over the past several hours. We had left the house immediately when her water broke, and were at the hospital within 20 minutes. Sookie and I had discussed at length whether or not she could handle doing this without any drugs. In the end, she decided to go with an epidural, but the dosage was small. We were forced to wait another 12 hours before our twins made their big debut.

Ryan Matthew Northman came first at 3:07am, weighing in at 5 lbs, 4 oz. His sister, the very beautiful Hadley Elizabeth Northman, followed 15 minutes later. She was definitely the more petite of them, weighing only 4 lbs 12 oz. But, both were strong and healthy, and that's really all that mattered. Both had a full head of hair, which made Sookie laugh. She said that she was completely bald when she was born, and stayed that way until she was almost 2 ½. I'd seen pictures of Sookie as a newborn, and Hadley was her carbon copy. Ryan, on the other hand, had my nose and Sookie's chin.

"You're awfully quiet over there, Daddy." Sookie said, a smile on her exhausted face. "What's on your mind?"

"I'm just taking in how beautiful they are, and how proud I am of you."

She smiled, and reached over and placed her hand on my knee. "Well, I couldn't have done it without you. How's your hand, by the way?" She chuckled slightly as she asked.

I looked down at the small bandage covering my right hand. Ryan's shoulders had become stuck behind Sookie's pelvic bone. It only took a moment for the doctor to fix the angle, but, while he'd been stuck, it had been tremendously painful for Sookie. She'd been holding my hand, and had dug her fingers into my skin, ripping the flesh with her nails. It had actually required two stitches.

"I think I'll live." I said, smiling as I watched her gently rub Ryan's back. Almost as if she could sense it was her turn to be fed, Hadley started to stir in my arms, and opened her beautiful eyes to gaze up at me. She had the most beautiful blue eyes. I know that most babies have blue eyes when they're first born, and I can only hope that Hadley's stay that way. I stood and walked to Sookie's side, and we carefully swapped children, so that she could feed Hadley while I tried to rock Ryan back to sleep.

As I sat back down in the rocking chair with Ryan, I found it nearly impossible to take my eyes off of Sookie. Her hair was pulled back haphazardly into a pony tail, and it was obvious that she was completely and utterly exhausted. She'd never been more beautiful.

It only served to strengthen my resolve to find out who the hell was trying to mess with my head. I had begun to question my own sanity. But, when Pam saw Cindy and Lizzie as well, I knew it wasn't just in my head. Someone had to be playing some kind of sick joke. I thought back to questions Sookie had asked as I drove her to the hospital.

"_From everything you've told me about Cindy, I realize that this sounds COMPLETELY out of character. But, are you 100% positive that she didn't fake the deaths?"_

_I had to take a couple of deep breaths before answering. Sookie had never met Cindy. She didn't know how absolutely absurd that would've been._

"_Yes, I'm positive. Pam had to go to the morgue to give a positive ID for the children. And there was no mistaking that Cindy was most assuredly gone." I paused for a moment more, and felt my hands reflexively tighten on the wheel. "She'd been decapitated." I heard Sookie gasp, and saw her raise her hand to cover her mouth. I'd never told her about that horrible detail. "Besides, when I've seen them, I still see them how they were. I see Lizzie as a young, vibrant 3 year old. But, if she were still alive, she'd be turning 10 in a few months." She nodded her head, and opened her mouth as if to say something, but winced as another contraction took her, effectively ending the conversation._

Sookie finished feeding Hadley, and began rubbing her back, humming softly. I grinned as I recognized the tune. She had told me that it was the song that her Grandmother would sing to Sookie and her cousin when they were having problems falling asleep. I thought back to when I had first met Sookie, and she was forced to stay at the halfway house because a serial killer was after her. Many nights, I had heard her humming this song to herself.

I reflected about how much in my life had changed since I'd met my beautiful wife. I'd been in such a dark, hateful place. I truly believed that everything good and light in my world had been extinguished. I had allowed my heart to harden, and freeze. Sookie brought back to life what I thought was long dead. I'll be damned if I let someone take that from me. Or even worse, take that from her.

It was then that I noticed that Sookie and both babies had gone to sleep. I stood and put my son in the small cradle next to the hospital bed, then gently lifted Hadley off Sookie's chest and put her into a cradle as well. I placed light kisses on each of their foreheads, then one on Sookie's lips. Sookie stirred slightly, rolling to her side, and patting the bed next to her, indicating she wanted me to join her. Luckily, the bed she was in was just large enough for me to accommodate her comfortably.

As I closed my eyes and began to drift into sleep, something occurred to me that I hadn't thought of before. In my recent "sightings" of my family, it had only ever been Cindy and Lizzie. Never Mattie. There **had** to be something significant about that. I instinctively knew that once I put my finger on the reason, it would lead me straight to the source of all of this.


	7. Chapter 7

**3 months later…**

**SPOV**

If I thought my life was hectic during my pregnancy, I was in for a major shock the day we brought the twins home from the hospital. Before, everything that was weighing down on Eric and I was emotional, and mental. Now, we had the physical side of things as well.

It was almost as if Ryan and Hadley had made a pact while they were still in the womb. They must have decided that they would never be upset and crying at the same time. They took turns. So, as much as it was nice that you never (well, **almost** never) had two babies screaming at the top of their lungs, you almost **always** had one crying.

I would finish nursing Ryan, burp him, and get him to sleep, and not two minutes later Hadley was fussing because it was her turn. So, I'd start the process all over again, and by the time I was finished with Hadley, Ryan needed to be changed. Once Ryan was changed, Hadley would have spit up all over her crib and need to have the bedding as well as her clothes changed. It just went on and on and on.

Eric was working from home as much as he possibly could, and I was very grateful for that. Pam told me that she had been amazed at how wonderful Eric was with Mattie when he was first born, and as much as I believed her, it was hard to picture. There was no doubt in my mind that Eric loved his children very deeply, but, he didn't seem like the kind of guy who could make silly faces while changing a really icky diaper. I couldn't have been more wrong.

If I hadn't already been 100%, completely and irrevocably head over heels in love with him before, I certainly would've been now. He was a completely different person when he was around his children. There is one night in particular that stands out for me. I had finished nursing Ryan, and had just started with Hadley. While I had Hadley, Eric was putting a fresh diaper on Ryan and getting him into his pajamas. And, since Ryan is of course a boy, he promptly peed all over Eric as soon as the diaper came off. Eric just laughed, took off his shirt, wiped himself down with a wet, soapy wash cloth, put on a new shirt, and moved on like nothing happened. Not ten minutes later, he was holding Hadley and she threw up all over him. He once again took of his shirt, looked at the kids, laughed and said "I guess that's your way of telling Daddy to take a shower, huh?" Most men I know would've gotten irritated, to say the least. But, with Eric, he said it was just all part of the joys of being a father.

Since Pam was still living in the apartment over the pool house, she and Felicia were at our place frequently to play with the children, and be as much help to us as possible. Sam and Jason also frequently stopped by. Sam had begun seeing someone, a very charming young woman named Holly. He brought her over for dinner one evening, and I got the impression that each of them had ulterior motives. Sam wanted to see how well Holly interacted with his friends, and Holly wanted to see how Sam was around children. It seemed that they both left that evening happy as clams.

When it came time to take the twins to see the doctor for their next round of immunizations, I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone, and made my appointment with my obstetrician for the same afternoon, since both offices were in the same building. Eric had wanted to go with me, but, something important came up with work, so, he wasn't able to. Pam was needed at the club as well, so, Felicia ended up volunteering to go with me. I wasn't able to handle it by myself, because someone would need to sit with the babies while my doctor was doing her examination. Everything went pretty smoothly, and my doctor gave me some great news. It had **finally** been long enough since the twins were born, and I was given the okay to be intimate with my husband once again.

By the time Felicia and I made it back to the house, the twins had both fallen asleep. We very carefully took them out of their car seats and put them in their cribs, and more or less collapsed onto a couch in the living room.

"Sookie, it may be none of my business, but, there's something I've been meaning to ask you."

This made me a little nervous, but I nodded, and indicated for her to ask away.

"Pam had mentioned that Eric thought he was seeing his first wife and daughter while you were still pregnant."

As much as I liked Felicia, and was glad that she and Pam were doing so well as a couple, I really didn't feel comfortable speaking with her about something so personal.

"Yes, he was having a pretty rough time around the anniversary of their deaths. But, it's all fine, now." By the look on her face, I know she understood that I wouldn't be saying anything else on the subject.

The last time that Eric had seen them was the afternoon I went into labor with the twins. We'd spoken at length about the fact that someone was behind all of it, since Pam had seen them as well. But, it suddenly just stopped. I, personally, believed that it truly had all just been in his head, and that the two of them had seen someone who looked **similar** to Cindy, and that the stress of the meeting they'd been to had gotten to them. I figured that the babies being born allowed him to focus on something else, and that's the reason it had stopped.

But, Eric was convinced that someone was messing with him, and that whoever it was, hadn't meant for Pam to see them as well, and was now trying to decide how to proceed. He kept saying that it had to be significant that it was always Cindy and Lizzie he saw, but never Mattie. I tried not to think about it very much, which was fairly easy considering that I was taking care of newborn twins.

Felicia's cell phone chirped with a text message, and she said that Pam and Eric were just pulling in. I stood and gave her a hug to say thanks for helping me with the twins today. Then, she left to go meet Pam at her apartment, while I waited for Eric to join me in the living room. When he came in, he stood in the entryway with a huge smile on his face.

I giggled and asked, "What's got you so happy?"

"I brought home a surprise for you!" He turned, and motioned for someone else to enter. When my surprise rounded the corner, I screamed, and jumped on, wrapping our guest in a tight hug.

"Barry! Oh my goodness! It's so wonderful to see you. What are you doing here?" He'd been living in New Orleans, where'd he'd been running a very successful computer security company.

"Well, I had lunch meeting with a perspective client. We were having lunch at Valhalla, and imagine my surprise when I found out that Eric was co-owner!" He smiled, and I realized just how much I'd missed him.

Barry had been a resident of the halfway house where I worked when Eric was first released from prison. He'd been a very naïve young man, and had been tricked into helping his college roommate embezzle $2 million. The roommate fled the country, and Barry was arrested. The judge had gone easy on him, and he never had to serve any time behind bars, but, was sent to Hope House for 6 months, where I was his case worker. The few couple of months of Eric's parole, he and Barry were my only cases, and the three of us had become very close during that time.

"After my meeting was over, Eric and I sat and chatted for a while. He filled me in on all of the details of your wedding, and your expanding family. Speaking of which, when do I get to meet the little cuties?"

I smiled. "As soon as they wake up. I almost don't dare go into the nursery while they're sleeping, because even the slightest noise will…." I didn't have to finish my sentence for my point to be made. Ryan picked that exact moment to begin crying, which woke up Hadley, and she joined right in.

Barry came into the nursery with Eric and I as we changed diapers, and then he sat down and held each of the twins for a few moments. It was pretty clear that he didn't have any experience with holding very young children, but, he got the hang of it after a few minutes.

After playing with the babies in the nursery for about 20 minutes, we took them into the kitchen, and put them each in bouncy chairs. Barry caught Eric and I up on his life while I started making dinner. When things were almost ready, I asked Barry if he'd like to stay and eat with us.

"Oh, I'm sorry Sookie, but I have plans. I've been seeing someone, and we're having dinner with a couple of her friends, tonight. With that in mind though, I have a favor to ask of you." He bit his lip nervously. "Tomorrow night, I'm supposed to be meeting her sister and brother-in-law for the first time. I was wondering if maybe you and Eric would like to join us."

Eric and I looked at each other, and after a moment, he nodded, and Barry wrote down the address of the restaurant, and time we'd be meeting them. He left, after giving the kids both a kiss on the forehead, and Eric and I both another big hug.

Eric told me all about the meeting he'd had at work, and wanted to know how the twins did with getting their shots. By the time we'd finished eating, and cleaning up the kitchen, it was time to get Ryan and Hadley ready for bed. Once they were finally asleep, I felt exhausted. Eric said he was going to talk to Pam about watching the babies tomorrow while we were at dinner, and I was asleep by the time he'd returned.

I had several errands I needed to run the next day, so, Eric went to the club to finish up some paperwork, while Pam ran around town with me. I told her about the good news I'd gotten from my doctor, and that I'd never had the chance to tell Eric. She insisted that we have some good, quality alone time after dinner, and volunteered to keep the twins all night.

Since we would be eating at an upscale restaurant, I made sure to dress up for dinner. I remembered the way Eric had reacted the first time he saw me in my favorite blue dress, and wanted desperately to wear it again. But, no matter how hard I tried, it just wouldn't fit. Eric saw how upset I was about that, and kissed me, and told me that it was okay. No one expected me to automatically go back to the same size I was before, especially since I'd given birth to twins only 3 months ago.

By the time we were finally on the way to the restaurant, my mood had definitely soured. I didn't want to ruin our evening though, so, I figured I'd tell Eric about my good news, and hope his enthusiasm would cheer me.

"Eric, listen, there's something I need to tell you."

"What is it, love?" His voice had the smallest amount of worry in it.

"Well, when I was at my appointment yesterday, the doctor gave me some news."

I saw him immediately tense up, assuming it was bad news. I reached over and took his hand in mine. "It's been long enough since the twins were born. Pam's going to keep the babies all night." I left it at that. He had a look of confusion on his face, but, after a moment, I knew he understood what I was saying.

He brought my hand to his face, and pressed a kiss to my palm. "Does this mean that after months of doing the five-fingered shuffle, I finally get to make love to my wife, again?" We laughed together as we pulled into the restaurant parking lot.

We walked, hand-in-hand, into the restaurant lobby. I immediately saw Barry, who was standing next to a pretty girl with brown hair. She looked oddly familiar to me, but I couldn't put my finger on where I'd seen her before. They were talking to another couple, who had their backs to us.

When we reached the small group, Barry smiled and said, "Sookie, Eric, I'd like you to meet Sandra Pelt," he said, indicating the woman next to him. The moment I heard her name, I froze. He continued by saying, "And this is Sandra's sister, Debbie, and her husband, Alcide."

The other couple turned to us, and my grip on Eric's hand tightened. I found myself, for the first time since we'd broken up, looking into the faces of my ex-fiancée, and the woman he'd left me for.

**A/N And now, a word from the lovely and talented Miss Meads... Attn: SVM readers and writers! SVM Teaser Mondays is still going strong! Get a sneak peak at what is coming up on your favorite fics! Any SVM writer can post a teaser! Subscribe to the thread here (remove spaces): http: // forum. fanfiction. net/ topic/ 55534/19191439/1/**

**On a more personal note, let me just say that it has been through the Monday teasers that I've actually found a few of my most favorite stores, I highly recommend checking it out!  
**


	8. Chapter 8

**EPOV**

Any anticipation I felt knowing that Sookie and I could have sex again was washed away. When Barry said the name 'Alcide,' I immediately remembered the story that Sookie had told me about her ex-fiancée. Could this be him? My question was answered when her grip on my hand tightened as he turned to face us. Well, this was certainly a complicated turn of events.

I had begun to come up with some made-up excuse for Barry as to why Sookie and I couldn't stay, when my wife took me by surprise, yet again. She let out a tiny laugh, and put her hand on Barry's shoulder.

"Barry, I actually already know Alcide and Debbie." Barry raised his eyebrows in question as she continued. "You see, Alcide and I dated for several years in college, and were even engaged at one point." I saw realization dawn on Barry's face. He was aware of this story, as well. He seemed to be at a loss for words.

"Alcide, Debbie," Sookie said, turning her attention to them, "this is my husband, Eric Northman." She put a slight emphasis on the word 'husband,' and I was interested to see where she was taking this. I extended my hand, and shook Alcide's, using the firmest grip I could without being obviously cruel. Sookie continued, "I know that this could turn into something terribly awkward, but, we're all adults. I think that we could sit and share a meal together, don't you?"

No one had the chance to respond before the hostess came to take us to our table. Alcide and Debbie led the way, closely followed by Barry and Sandra. I pulled Sookie to my side to put a small amount of distance between us and the other couples.

"What are you up to, Sookie?"

"Barry really wants our opinion on this young woman he's dating, and I refuse to let any history I have with Alcide and Debbie keep me from helping out my friend." I nodded, knowing how important Barry was to her. "Besides, there's no time like the present to flaunt how happy we are in front of Alcide, and make him realize just what he missed out on by dumping me." I had to work hard to not laugh out loud. She wanted to throw her happiness in her ex's face. I had no problem with that. Suddenly, this meal looked to be very entertaining.

Once we were seated, our waiter came to tell us about the specials, and Barry requested a bottle of wine. For the next couple of moments, things were fairly relaxed while everyone perused the menus. The waiter returned shortly afterwards, pouring wine into glasses for everyone. He was about to pour some for Sookie, but she told him she wouldn't be having any, and would just be having water instead. After he finished pouring, he took our orders and left us again.

After a moment of charged silence, Barry did his best to get the ball rolling. "Sookie, do you not like my choice of wines?"

"Oh, no, it's not that. I just won't be drinking any alcohol until I'm no longer nursing the twins." Now, I may have been wrong, but, I could've sworn Alcide's face suddenly held a twinge of anger.

"Twins?" He asked.

Sookie nodded. "Yes, Eric and I are the proud parents of a little boy and girl, born almost 13 weeks ago." I smiled broadly, and placed my hand on top of hers on the table.

"Well, that's wonderful, congratulations." His voice dripped sarcasm.

"What about you two? How many children do you have now?"

"Oh, none, thank goodness," Debbie answered. It was hard not to cringe at the awful nasal sound of her voice. How anyone could stand to listen to this woman speak day in and day out was beyond me.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I don't think I understand. I thought you became pregnant shortly after the two of you got back together," Sookie pressed.

Thank goodness, Alcide spoke up before Debbie had the chance to. "Unfortunately, the child was stillborn." As much as I wanted to hate this man, it was hard not to feel compassion at the sadness in his voice.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry to hear that." Sookie said, and I saw Debbie and Sandra look at one another and roll their eyes.

As dinner continued, it was not hard to get a clear picture of what Alcide and Debbie's life was like. He and his father co-owned their own company, and worked as general contractors. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was providing a large amount of business for them, even with the economy being what it was. Debbie **had** been working as Alcide's personal assistant, but, now, she just stayed at home. I got the impression that Debbie and her father-in-law didn't get along very well, and that she was no longer welcome at the office.

The look on Alcide's face each time his wife opened her mouth was almost enough to make me feel sorry for him. It was clear that she was making him miserable. I couldn't honestly imagine myself wishing her companionship on my worse enemy. But, then I remembered the raw ache that Sookie had described feeling when their relationship ended. He'd made her feel as if she'd purposefully miscarried their child. She'd wanted children of her own so much, and when her doctor told her it was not likely to happen, she needed him to support her, and help her through it. Instead, he made it that much harder on her, and made her feel like she was less of a woman. No, I had no sympathy for this man.

By some miracle, we actually made it all the way through the meal without any blood being shed. However, if looks could kill, I'm sure that Barry would've been the only one left standing. As we left the restaurant, Sookie embraced Barry tightly, and invited to come over the next afternoon before he had to head back to New Orleans. He agreed, and we headed home.

Although I'd only had two glasses of wine, I gave Sookie the keys, allowing her to drive. I had a policy that if I had more than one swallow of any alcoholic substance, I would not allow myself behind the wheel. She stayed silent during the drive, and had a sort of far off look on her face.

Once she had parked the car in the garage, she went into the house to get ready for bed, and I went out back to Pam's apartment just to make sure she wasn't having any problems with the babies. After the way dinner had gone, I no longer anticipated being able to have sex with Sookie. However, the twins were sleeping quite soundly, so I had no intentions of taking them back to the house with me.

When I entered our bedroom, Sookie was in the bathroom with the door shut, so, I quietly took off my clothing, leaving just my boxers, and crawled into bed. I was hoping that, at the very least, I'd get to hold her in my arms all night. The bathroom door opened, and she turned the light off, leaving our bedroom in darkness, and I felt her crawl into bed with me. I was lying on my back, and she curled up next to me, and rested her head on my chest. I was just beginning to wrap my arm around her shoulders, when I felt her hand snake down my abdomen, and dip into my boxers.

At the feel of her soft, small fingers on me, I instantly hardened. She circled her fingers around me and began to slowly stroke, and I couldn't stop myself from groaning in pleasure. She leaned up and kissed me softly, but then pulled her face slightly away from mine.

"Do you still want this, or did dinner completely kill the mood?" She asked me. As if anything in this world could kill my desire for her.

"Oh, I want you, make no mistake about that. But, I'm surprised **you're** in the mood. After having been forced to spend time with those awful people, I thought you'd be exhausted."

She laughed softly. "No, not at all. In fact, seeing Alcide tonight only makes me want you even more. Yes, I was hurt by the way things ended between he and I. But, I can see now he got the short end of the stick, not me. He's stuck in a marriage with a woman he can barely stand, who has driven a huge wedge in his relationship with his own family. And here I am, married to a man who adores and spoils me. Two beautiful, healthy children. Nothing but good things on the horizon. I'm grateful he and I broke up."

I moved my hand slowly down her back, underneath her panties, squeezing her delicious ass. "How grateful are you?"

She kissed me, and proceeded to show me. Twice.


	9. Chapter 9

**SPOV**

I woke with a huge smile on my face, and had to bury my face in a pillow to keep from cackling loud enough to wake the dead. I was sore, but in the best way. It had been almost 6 months since Eric and I had been able to make love. During the tail end of my pregnancy, my doctor had made it clear that anything that elevated my pulse would've been bad for the babies. And, although Eric said that I had that beautiful pregnancy glow about me, I hadn't felt very beautiful or desirable. Now, however, I felt like the most beautiful, cherished woman on the planet.

I rolled over and peaked at the clock, shocked to see that it was already 10am. I was surprised that Eric hadn't woken me up to nurse either one of the babies, yet. But, on their doctor's advice, we had begun switching off between formula and breast milk, so, it's not like they were going hungry. I took care of my personal needs in the bathroom, slipped on a pair of lounge pants and a t-shirt, and went in search of my family.

It was Sunday, so the club was closed, which meant that Eric most likely wouldn't have to go into work at all. Sunday's were the only day the restaurant was open for brunch, and they closed earlier in the evening, but, things there ran so smoothly, Eric and Pam rarely had to be there. Felicia certainly had picked and trained her staff well.

As I got closer to the nursery, I could hear the babies cooing, and Eric and Pam giggling. I heard another familiar voice, and smiled at the knowledge that we had company. I stopped in the doorway of the nursery, and leaned up against the doorframe. Pam and Eric were sitting in the rocking chairs, and each was holding a baby. Sam was on his knees in between the two chairs, taking turns hiding his face behind a blanket, then peeking out and making a silly face.

I watched this continue on for a couple of minutes before Pam saw me, pointed to me and told Hadley, "look little one, there's Mama," and tickled her chin. Hadley giggled as Eric and Sam both turned to look at me. I smiled, walking over to place a kiss on Hadley's cheek. She reached for me as best she could, and I took her and held her close to me, savoring the weight of her in my arms. Pam stood and motioned for me to take the empty chair, which I gratefully did.

"So, Sookie," Sam said, "Eric tells me that the two of you had quite the great time last night." I gasped and turned to Eric, shocked that he had spoken so openly to Sam about our sex life.

Eric, knowing exactly why I looked the way I did, laughed loudly, bouncing Ryan on his knee. "Sookie, he's talking about dinner."

I blushed, and tried to hide my face behind Hadley, but sadly, she was too small and it didn't quite work. Pam caught on and began laughing as well. Sam, well, he just looked confused.

I tried to avoid further embarrassment. "Yes, Sam, dinner was definitely quite the experience."

"I'd heard that Herveaux & Son was opening up an office here in Shreveport, and that Alcide was going to be moving here to manage it. But, I hadn't heard he was here already."

I playfully smacked Sam on the arm. He turned to me with a questioning look. I said, in my best imitation of his voice, "Gee Sookie, by the way, remember your ex-fiancée who dumped you for his nasty ass ex-girlfriend that he'd cheated on you with? Well, they're moving here, just thought you should know!"

Eric laughed and shook his head, while Sam simply replied, "Yeah, I know, I should've said something to you about it. I'm sorry. But, to be honest, I heard about it myself only a few days after the twins were born. I didn't think you needed something else to stress you out at the time."

I squeezed his arm, and nodded that he was probably right. He sat with us and continued to play with the twins for a short while longer, before he left, saying he had a lunch date with Holly. I nursed both of the babies, and then went to take a shower while Eric laid them down for a nap.

I had only been in the shower long enough to wash and rinse my hair when I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around my waist, and Eric pulled my back into his chest. I relaxed completely as the hot water sprayed over us, and felt him lean in and begin placing kisses along the back of my neck and shoulders.

"Mmm, you have NO idea how difficult it was for me to get up and leave you lying naked in bed this morning, lover," he said in between kisses.

I trailed my fingertips over his arms as he held me. "Then why did you?"

He laughed. "I got a text message from Pam saying 'HELP! Ryan pooped while I was changing him and now it's everywhere!'"

I joined him in laughter, and turned around in his arms to face him. "Well, in that case, thank you for letting me sleep in, instead of waking me up to go help as well."

He ghosted his fingertips along my spine, causing me to shiver, despite the hot water. "Well, you just looked so damn peaceful. Besides, I figured you'd need the rest to recover from the hours of mind-blowing sex I treated you to last night."

I chuckled and opened my eyes wider. "Getting a little cocky, are we?"

"You tell me." He released me from his hold, took my hand in his, and guided it down to his now very hard erection. I encircled him with my fingers, and slowly began to stroke. I smiled to myself when his eyes closed, and he moaned deep in his chest.

After another minute or two, he reached down and pulled my hand off of him, and placed it back on his chest. I looked at him, confusion written all over my face. Wasn't he enjoying my touch?

"Sookie, you know that I will never get enough of the feel of your hands on me. But, in all honesty, with the exception of last night, it's been almost a half year since anything's touched my cock other than hands."

I couldn't help myself and burst into laughter. I pressed my forehead to his chest for a moment while I regained my composure, and looked back up at his face. He was watching me with a look of patient irritation. I fixed my face into the most innocent look I could manage, while standing naked with my very fuckable husband.

"Well, I guess I need to start making up for lost time then, hmm?"

Before he could respond, I began slowly running my tongue over the water droplets running down his chest and stomach. I held his hands in mine and began to move backwards, to where there was a wooden bench along the wall of the shower enclosure. Eric had told me that Cindy had asked for it to be installed, because sitting made it easier to shave her legs.

Once we reached the bench, I sat down, wrapped my arms around his body at the level of his thighs, and looked up into his beautiful eyes as I took as much of him as I could into my mouth. He closed his eyes again, and I felt a shudder run through his body. I started slowly, but gradually let my pace quicken. He moved one of his hands to cup the back of my head, and I know that if my hair had been dry, he would've tangled his fingers in it.

After a few more minutes, he began rocking his hips a little, and I knew that he was holding back from thrusting himself hard into mouth. I began to swirl my tongue around the underside of the head of his cock on the out-strokes, which I knew he thoroughly enjoyed. It wasn't long before he growled loudly, and stepped back from me.

Before I knew what was happening, he'd pulled me to a standing position, turned us both around, reached down to pick me up, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He sat down on the bench, and lowered me onto him. My head fell back as I sighed at the intense pleasure of having him inside me.

"Oh, no, lover. Look at me." His voice was husky, and I knew that I would gladly do anything he asked me to when spoken like that. I snapped my head back up, and gazed at him. His eyes had darkened, and he also seemed to be struggling to keep them open. He gripped my hips firmly, and began to move my body up and down over his hard length. I arched my back a bit until we were at a perfect angle. He took advantage of it and began teasing my nipple with his rough tongue.

Just as my climax was beginning to build, I felt his hips thrusting upwards, and knew he was almost there as well. Two more hard thrusts and my world exploded. He quickly put an arm behind my shoulders and pulled my body flush with his as he kissed me, and I felt his body tense as he reached his peak as well.

We sat there holding each other while our breathing slowed down. He kissed me slowly, leisurely, before pressing his forehead to mine and telling me he loved me.

Once we were both capable of standing again, we finished getting cleaned up, dried off and got dressed. He went to check on the babies while I dried my hair, and we found ourselves in the kitchen making lunch together not long afterwards.

Right about the time we were ready to eat, the babies woke up, so we brought them into the room with us, and put each of them in a bouncy chair with a bottle. We had just finished eating when the doorbell rang, and Eric went to answer.

He came back in a moment later with Barry following him. I smiled and gave Barry a hug, and offered to make him something to eat, but he declined, saying he'd just come from having lunch with Sandra.

"So, um, I should probably let ya know that I broke up with her over lunch," he said once we were settled in the living room.

"Oh, please don't tell me it's because of any history that I may have with Debbie and Alcide, Barry? I'd hate to think I ruined your relationship."

"No, not at all. I gotta say, I'm actually really glad that things went the way they did at dinner last night. After we left the restaurant, the four of us went back to Debbie and Alcide's place. I left after only 30 minutes because I couldn't stand it anymore. It was like Sandra turned into a completely different person. She and Debbie sat there and just said the most horrible things about you, none of which were true."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Eric's features tighten. He was not happy.

"Alcide tried to defend you over a couple of things, but, Debbie just wouldn't quite. He finally just got up and left the room. At lunch today I just told Sandra that it just wouldn't work between us. When she asked me why, I told her that it was like she was two different people. She said that everyone has parts of themselves that they don't show everyone. I told her that I agreed with her, but that most of the time, the person they keep private isn't the polar opposite of their public persona."

I could tell that he was disappointed that the relationship was over, but, it was probably better that he saw this side of her now, rather than later. He left about an hour later to leave for New Orleans, with a promise to keep in touch.

I was changing Ryan's diaper when Eric came into the nursery, having gone out to get the mail.

"This is odd," he said, a large white envelope in his hands. "This is simply addressed to 'Northman,' but there's no return address."

He held it up for me to see, and I simply shrugged. He opened the envelope up, and pulled out several sheets. His brow furrowed.

"What is it?" I asked, becoming concerned.

He walked over to me, and showed me what the envelope contained. As he flipped through a few sheets, he said, "It's picture of Cindy and Lizzie, at various ages. Some are actual studio photos, and some are random candids. A couple look like the photographer may have been pretty far away, using a high-zoom lense."

As he flipped to the final picture, the two of us had very different reactions. He froze, and after a moment, dropped the photo to the floor. On then other hand, when I saw it, I gasped loudly, and only just made it to the trash can in time as I vomited.

It looked like a photo from the police file for the accident that had killed Cindy, Lizzie and Mattie. It was a photo of Cindy, her body hanging lifeless, being held up only by the seatbelt. Her head was notably absent from her body.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N I just wanted to take a minute and say thank you for everyone that has been reviewing this little story of mine. Y'all are awesome. I normally try to respond to as many reviews as possible, however, I had a particularly painful root canal last week, and, if I took the time to reply, I wouldn't be able to post new chapters. I hope you guys understand!!**

**EPOV**

There were many things running through my head in the moments after I'd dropped that devastating photo. I tried everything I could think of to erase it from my memory, but knew it would always be there. I deeply regretted that Sookie had seen it as well. She'd never known Cindy, so it wasn't as personal for her, but, it was horrible all the same. Especially considering how tenderhearted she is.

I instantly wanted to grab the photo and burn it. However, I knew that wasn't an option. The envelope hadn't had a return address, so, in order to find the responsible party, we would most likely have to try to lift fingerprints from the photos. Also, I would have a few words with the Shreveport police department. It was obvious to me that their incompetence had led to this photo being in hands it shouldn't have been.

After another moment of being frozen in thought, I grabbed a spare blanket from one of the cribs and placed it over the photo on the ground, removing it from view. I went down the hallway to the bathroom, splashed a bit of cold water on my face, and then returned to the nursery with a glass of water for Sookie, who was still heaving into the trashcan in the corner.

I rubbed her back gently until she was able to calm her stomach, and then sat down in a rocking chair with her on my lap, as she drank the water slowly. She rested her head on my chest, and I simply held her, noting that her whole body was trembling.

"Who could've done this?" She asked in a weak voice.

"I have no idea." And I truly didn't. In my mind, I couldn't imagine someone cruel, and disturbed enough to send this photo to us in the mail.

"We need to report this to the police."

I thought about that for a moment. "Eventually, yes, we probably will. But, for right now, I think I'd rather give Quinn a call. He'll be able to get as much info on it as the police would, without having the restrictions of staying within the law." I felt her body stiffen. I knew she wouldn't like the idea. But, after a moment of hesitation, she simply nodded.

Hadley began to get fussy, so, Sookie stood up and walked over to the crib. While she was attending to our daughter, I bent over and gently slid all of the photos back into the envelope, and left the nursery. I grabbed my cell phone and called Quinn to see if he was available to meet with me as soon as possible.

We'd arranged to meet in an hour at my office at Hell's Inferno, knowing we wouldn't be disturbed since the club was closed. Sookie told me to go ahead without her, and she would stay with the babies. Just before I left, I stopped by to talk to Pam.

"Listen, if you get anything in your mail that doesn't identify the sender, don't open it. Handle it as little as possible, and call me immediately."

She pondered that for a moment. "Why? What's going on?"

"Pam, I don't want to go into details because I don't want you to get hurt. But, there was a large envelope in our mail today that included several photos of Cindy and Lizzie. Please trust me when I say that for your own sanity, you won't ever want to see them."

For a split second, she looked almost appalled. Then her features hardened, and I knew she and I were on the same page.

"I'm going to meet with Quinn, and have him take a look at all of it. Hopefully, we'll be able to find something that will help us figure out who the hell did this, and why."

I let her know that Sookie would be home alone with the babies for a while, and Pam said she'd probably go over and stay with her, and I left. By the time Quinn walked into my office, my rage had hit an all-time high.

"Let me see them," he said, nodding to the envelope.

I pushed it across my desk to him, and he pulled on a pair of latex gloves before touching anything. He examined each of the photos for a few minutes. When he got to the last, worse photo, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and set it face down on the desk. It was only then that I'd noticed that there was writing on the back of it.

In thick, blood red letters was written, "Northman, THIS is your fault. Their deaths rest on your head." Before I could stop myself, I stood, grabbed whatever I could get my hands on (which ended up being a framed picture of Sookie), threw it at the wall full force, and yelled in pure fury and rage.

Quinn sat, still as a stone, for a few moments while I breathed deeply, willing to anger to subside. Finally, he spoke.

"Eric, I WILL find out who is responsible for this. They may think that they're just messing with you, but, they've got another thing coming. They're barking up the wrong tree, here. Soon, they'll discover that messing with you or Sookie will end up being much more trouble than it is worth."

I nodded my thanks to him, and sat back down. "Quinn, you know me. I can handle personal attacks aimed at me. But, this is going too far. Nobody fucks with my family. I don't care what it takes."

By the look in his eye, I knew he understood me perfectly. "Now, tell me, is this the first time anything like this has happened?" I was taken aback for a minute by his question. Of course this was the first time! Then, it dawned on me that whoever was responsible for me seeing visions of my former family, could possibly be behind this as well.

I had begun to tell Quinn about seeing Cindy and Lizzie, when my cell phone rang. I looked down at it, saw that it was Pam's cell phone, and decided to ignore it for now. A moment later, my phone buzzed, saying I had a new text message from Sookie. It simply read, "Emergency, answer your phone."

Before I had time to react, it rang again, this time with the ID showing Sookie's cell.

"What is it?" I asked with concern.

"Meet me at the hospital, okay. Hadley wouldn't quit fussing, and she felt warm to me, and she's got a temperature of 102 degrees. I called the on-call doctor at the pediatrician's office, and they said to get her to the ER immediately."

"Fuck. I'll leave right now and meet you there."

I let Quinn know what was happening, and he promised to get things rolling with the photos, and call me as soon as he knew anything else. We parted ways in the parking lot, and I drove to the hospital as quickly as I could.

When I arrived, I found Sookie in the waiting area for the emergency room. She was alone with Hadley, and said that Pam had decided to stay at the house with Ryan. We were both a little agitated that we had to wait for a doctor to see us, because the pediatrician on the phone made it sound quite urgent.

After waiting for about another 20 minutes, the twin's personal doctor walked in, and took us immediately to an exam room. He ran several tests, and poor Hadley's mood was only getting worse and worse. Now, not only was she obviously sick, but she was being poked and prodded left and right. Approximately three hours and ten invasive tests later, the doctor informed us that Hadley had a rather severe sinus infection.

Because her fever had been so high, he wanted to have her admitted overnight to try and pump as many antibiotics into her as they could. I held Sookie's hand tightly in mine as she stood over Hadley, stroking her head, trying to help her keep calm while a nurse started an IV on her. I noticed that Sookie had a few silent tears running down her cheeks. It was very hard for both of us to watch our daughter be put through something painful, and not be able to prevent it.

Hadley was in a small crib, and there was a twin sized bed as well. Sookie insisted that she stay the night with Hadley, and that I go home and be with Ryan. After arguing with her about it for an hour, I reluctantly headed home.

I filled Pam in on everything the doctor had said, and thanked her again for being so ready and willing to help with the children. She tenderly kissed Ryan's forehead, then my cheek, and went back to her apartment to crash.

I bathed Ryan, and sat with him in the rocking chair until he'd fallen asleep. After everything that had happened that day, I couldn't bring myself to leave him here in the nursery and go back to my room all alone. So, I did something I never thought I'd condone. I arranged several pillows into a makeshift 'crib' on my bed, laid him down, and fell asleep that night holding my sons hand.


	11. Chapter 11

**EPOV**

Hadley was released from the hospital the next afternoon, and her doctor had given us a long list of things to be doing to help her get better. She was still very cranky, but, the fever had gone, and she was slowly starting to act like her cheery self again.

Quinn had called me a little over 24 hours after I'd left him at the club. After assuring him that Hadley was quite alright, he filled me in on what he'd discovered. The only fingerprints on the photos belonged to Sookie and I, so that was a dead end. He'd been in contact with the Shreveport police department, as to how someone had gotten hold of a photo from the accident scene. Apparently, shortly after the accident, it had been discovered that an evidence clerk had been downloading photos to his home computer, and was auctioning them off to the highest bidder. By the time he was caught, he'd already destroyed all records of what photos he'd sold, and to whom.

I hadn't felt this helpless in years. I knew there was someone out there that was a threat to my family's health and happiness. However, I had no way of knowing who, or when and how they'd make their next move. Quinn and his team installed a new, state of the art security system at the house, and updated the ones we already had in place at the club and restaurant. Sookie never went out by herself. She would always have Quinn, Jason, Pam, Sam or I with her at all times. She wasn't happy about it, but, she said she'd do anything to protect Ryan and Hadley.

We started to settle into a routine, and things seemed to calm down. It had been two months since we'd received the pictures in the mail, and the stunt wasn't repeated. I wasn't sure if it was because of the added security, or because whoever was doing this was lying low for the time being.

Pam's relationship with Felicia was going strong. She had come over for dinner with Sookie and I one evening, and asked our thoughts on having Felicia move in with her. I was absolutely thrilled for her. I'd seen her go through more than her fair share of bad relationships. She'd turned quite cynical when it came to the whole dating scene, and it was good to see her happy with someone. Sookie seemed a little hesitant, but told Pam that she should do whatever it takes to make herself happy.

When I'd talked to Sookie about it afterwards, she said that she just had this odd feeling about Felicia. She was impressed with what she had done for the restaurant, and she was just as excited as I was to see Pam so happy. But, she said that she always got a sort of creepy feeling about Felicia if she was left alone with her. She couldn't put her finger on why, though.

Pam and Felicia left for the spa at around 10am on Saturday morning, which was right around the same time Sam came over to pick me up. He'd been getting more and more serious with Holly, and they were great together. Holly had gotten married right out of high school, and was divorced three years later. Now, she was a single mom, and her 5-year old son Cody split his time with Holly and her ex-husband.

Sam adored Cody, and it always seemed that Cody felt the same. For his birthday, Holly had saved up her money and bought him a really nice swing set. Sam had spent the past week doing everything he could to get me to help him set it up in Holly's backyard. So, I begrudgingly kissed my wife and children goodbye, and left with Sam to spend my day off doing something manly.

"So, things between you and Holly really seem to be going well," I said while assembling something that sort of resembled a slide.

"Yeah, they are," he smiled through his concentration. "In fact, I have some news for you on that front. Holly's ex, David, made arrangements a long time ago to have Cody for two weeks at the beginning of the summer, to take him to some big family reunion thing in Montana. So, since Holly wouldn't need to be concerned with getting a babysitter, I got tickets for her and I to take a 10-day cruise to Mexico!"

"Seriously? That sounds like a blast. I went down to Cozumel with a couple of friends when I first moved to the states, and we toured the Mayan ruins. It's amazing!"

He winced as the hammer came dangerously close to his thumb. "Yeah, well, if I can make the timing of things work, I think that while we're there, I'm gonna ask her to marry me."

I took that piece of information in for a moment, before forcefully throwing the screwdriver in my hand to the ground. "Damnit, Sam, why the hell did you do that?"

He looked at me and stammered, obviously confused.

"You know Sookie's gonna throw a shit fit when she finds out you told me before you told her." I smiled broadly at him.

He laughed, shaking his head, before returning to his work.

Three hours later, after a promise to Holly that I'd pay for what we ruined, and hire a professional crew to put the swing set up the following weekend, Sam dropped me off back at home. The baby's were both asleep in the nursery, so I wasn't too surprised to find Sookie napping in our bed, as well. Exhausted, and unable to resist the feel of her in my arms, I removed my shoes, pants and shirt, and climbed into bed with my wife, and was asleep almost immediately.

I began to crawl back from the fog of unconsciousness when I felt the very pleasurable sensation of warm, soft lips and a very wet tongue just south of my navel. I kept my eyes closed as I began to enjoy the sensation. But, after a few moments, I couldn't resist the urge to peek. What I saw was not at all disappointing.

Sookie was lying next to me on her stomach, and she had propped herself up on her elbows. She looked up into my eyes, and grinned a little, before winking, and wrapping her lips around my now very hard cock.

I groaned, and put my hand on the back of her head as I felt her take my length into her mouth. She laughed a little, and the vibrations it sent through me were extraordinary. I loosely tangled my fingers in her hair, and brought my other arm behind my head, giving me the perfect angle with which to view the show.

Sookie was only taking about half of me into her mouth, but her hand was making sure to give attention to the rest. After a few minutes, she stopped, and looked up into my eyes again. Once she knew I wouldn't look away (as if anything could tear my eyes away from her in this moment), she slowly moved her mouth downwards, and didn't stop until I felt the tip of my cock hit the back of her throat. I growled, and my head fell backwards as I pushed my throat and chest forward, trying to contain myself from flying off the bed.

What she did next though, was the biggest surprise. She quickly lifted her head, and released me from her mouth. I looked back up at her, with what I'm sure was a disappointed look. She pushed up until she was on her knees, and pulled her shirt up over her head. That's when I first noticed that the shirt had been the ONLY thing she'd been wearing. She put a finger to her lips, signally that she wanted me to be completely silent.

Maintaining the silence turned out to be very difficult, as she climbed on top of me, and slowly lowered herself until I was completely buried inside her. She started to move her body, allowing her to rise and fall over me. I moved my hands to her hips, guiding her to the perfect pace.

All I could do was focus on the feeling of being inside of her, and enjoy how beautiful she was in that moment. She had allowed her head to fall back, and her hair was cascading down her back, with a few locks over her shoulders and onto her breasts. And what perfect breasts they were. They were still fuller than before the pregnancy, and I silently thanked whatever God had made that part of the genetic make-up of a woman.

She was being so careful to remain silent, and I assumed it was because she didn't want to wake the babies. Even without hearing her familiar sounds, though, I could tell that she was getting close, because her movement sped up. I moved my hand slightly, and began rubbing circles over the small bundle of nerves with my thumb. Her head snapped back up as she looked deeply into my eyes.

I've seen many things in my life, but none could compare to this. Sookie riding through her orgasm while remaining completely silent was the most erotic thing I'd ever laid eyes on. My own climax followed seconds later. She collapsed onto my chest, and we held each other as our breathing slowed to a normal place.

After we'd laid together for a few more minutes, we stood to dress and check on the babies. Ryan was still sleeping, but Hadley was awake in her crib, playing with her toes. By the time Sookie changed Hadley's diaper, Ryan woke as well. Just as I was reaching into the crib for him, the doorbell rang. We both quickly glanced at the monitor on the dresser, showing the security camera feed. It was Sam. I told Sookie to go ahead, and that I would be out once I got Ryan changed.

I held Ryan in my arms and went to join Sookie and Sam. I tensed up when I found them in the living room. Sam was sitting on the couch, Hadley in his arms. Sookie sat next to him, and she had her face buried in her hands. She was sobbing, and Sam used his free arm to rub circles on her back.

"What is it? What's wrong?" I asked when Sam looked up at me.

I was crushed by his answer. "Barry's dead."


	12. Chapter 12

**SPOV**

"Hey, Sam. Come on in," I said as I opened the door, balancing Hadley in one arm.

He stepped past me, and once I'd shut the door, he immediately reached out for Hadley. I put her in his arms, and he gave her a big kiss on the cheek, and tickled her with his facial hair. After a moment, he turned to look at me, and his expression became very serious. "Sook, I gotta tell ya something. Can we go sit down?"

I immediately grew nervous. I nodded, and directed him to the couch in the living room. I sat in the center, and Sam sat himself on my left side, sitting Hadley on his leg and bouncing her a bit on his knee. After he smiled at her for the briefest of moments, he turned, and took my hand in his.

"Sookie, after I dropped Eric off earlier I stopped at Hope House to check my messages. There was one from a detective in New Orleans asking that I return his call as soon as possible. When I got hold of him, he said he was conducting a murder investigation, and needed to get some information from me on one of our past residents. I told him that I'd be glad to help him in any way I could, and asked who was involved, thinking that maybe somebody we'd released was a suspect." He paused and took in a deep, ragged breath. "Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Our guy was the victim."

I sat back for a moment and went over cases in my mind, trying to compile a list of former residents now living in New Orleans. Well, there was Barry, obviously. And, then there was….wait a minute. It was **only** Barry. I looked back up at Sam, shaking my head.

"No, Sam, no. Tell me it's not…." I couldn't do it. I couldn't say his name out loud to ask for confirmation. The look on Sam's face said it all. I dropped my head into my hands when the tears began to fall. I felt my body begin to tremble, and Sam started rubbing my back. It wasn't long before I heard Eric's voice.

"What is it? What's wrong?" He asked, sounding distressed.

"Barry's dead," came Sam's answer. Hearing it actually said out loud suddenly made it so much more real, and I lost it. I don't think I cried this hard since Gran died. Eric put Ryan down on the carpet next to Sam, sat down next to me, and pulled me into his arms. I laid my head on his chest and just cried. He held me tight, and I knew he was crying as well.

Once my sobbing had quieted to hiccups, I shifted in Eric's arms so that I was still being held by him, but could see Sam. "Sam, what happened to him?"

Sam briefly filled Eric in on what he'd told me about speaking with the detective from New Orleans, and then continued. "According to Barry's secretary, he had a meeting scheduled with who they thought was a perspective client. When the man arrived, the secretary let him into Barry's office, and went back to her desk. She said that less than a minute later, she heard a gun shot, and frantically went back to Barry's office to check on him. She said that Barry was lying on the ground, unconscious and bleeding, and the new client was standing over him still holding the gun. When she gasped, the man turned and looked at her, then shot himself. She called 911, but, both of them were pronounced dead on the scene."

"Did they know who the shooter was and why he did it?" Eric asked.

"Yeah," Sam answered, his voice heavy with emotion. "It was Charles, Barry's college roommate that tricked him into embezzling the money. It seems he'd decided he was done hiding in Mexico, and had been living in Texas. He heard all about Barry pleading guilty, and that there was a warrant out for his arrest. He did some research and found out where Barry was living. It seems he decided he'd rather die than go to prison, but wanted revenge for Barry getting off so easily."

"Have you heard anything from his family?" Eric asked Sam.

"I spoke with his sister very briefly. They were waiting to hear from New Orleans about when Barry's body would be released. She did mention that her mother wanted to bury him in Texas."

Eric continued to ask Sam questions, and Sam answered them as best as he could, but I wasn't really paying attention. I just kept thinking that I'd never again see Barry smile. I'd never hear him laugh. It was all too overwhelming. I stood up from the couch, and excused myself to the kitchen to begin working on dinner, just to have something to do.

About 20 minutes later, Sam came in and gave me a hug, and told me he'd talk to me tomorrow. I just nodded, and went back to my task. Not long afterwards, Eric brought both babies in and put them in their bouncy chairs, and we ate together in silence.

**EPOV**

I stared out the window of our plane, softly stroking Sookie's hair. She had become too exhausted to stay awake, and had lain down with her head resting on my lap. It was good to see her getting some rest; she definitely needed and deserved it.

The day after Sam had told us about Barry, we'd received a phone call from Barry's mother and sister in Texas. They told us when the funeral was going to be held, and asked if Sookie would speak. I knew it would be hard for her, but she very honestly said that she would be honored to. She'd gone without much sleep for the following few days while trying to decide what she wanted to say about her friend.

Quinn had a friend who was pilot, who'd offered to fly everyone to Dallas for just the cost of the fuel. So, Sam, Quinn, Sookie and I had flown down Wednesday morning. The viewing had been Wednesday evening, followed by the funeral service Thursday morning, and we decided to fly home that same night. It would've been nice to stay an extra day and spend some time with Barry's family, but, I knew that Sookie was anxious to get home to the babies.

This was the longest we'd ever been away from them. Pam graciously offered to keep them while we were gone, and arranged to be away from both the club and restaurant. I was nervous leaving them, knowing that there was still someone out there that I considered a threat, but, I knew it was necessary. I knew that Sookie needed to be able to say goodbye to Barry, and I wasn't about to ask her to do that alone.

When Sam had told me about the way Barry died, I became enraged. All I could think was that the man who'd killed him was lucky he was already dead. If he hadn't been, I would've changed that before long. He was a complete coward, and I honestly didn't believe that he **deserved** to live. He'd preyed upon Barry's trust and kindness, and then fled the country to let Barry take the fall for his crimes. Then, knowing that he was likely going to prison himself, he took the easy way out. But he couldn't just kill himself, oh no. He had to make his ruination of Barry complete.

I thought back to when I first met Barry. I had just been released from prison, and was still uncertain how to move on from the deaths of my family. Besides Sookie, Barry had been the first person to befriend me. He'd taken the time to get to know me, rather than pass judgment on me solely based on what crimes I'd committed. It was rare these days to meet someone as pure and kind as Barry, and I considered myself lucky to have known him at all.

I was forced to wake Sookie as we prepared to land in Shreveport, and was not at all surprised when she fell asleep again in the car on the drive home. All I could think about was how Sookie and I had each lost so many of those we'd loved too early in life. It strengthened my resolve to tell her everyday how much I loved her, how much she meant to me. It also made me realize how desperately I'd missed Ryan and Hadley in the short 36 hours we'd been gone. I couldn't wait to hold them in my arms again.


	13. Chapter 13

**SPOV**

"Sookie, sweetheart, we're home." Eric's hand was gently rubbing my leg. I opened my eyes, and couldn't help but smile a little. Would there ever be a time when the sight of him didn't take my breath away? He was so beautiful. And he was all mine. I wondered if he could read my mind, because his face formed into his trademark smirk, and he chuckled a little while wagging his eyebrows. After another moment he said, "Come on, let's go rescue Auntie Pam."

I got out of the car and took a moment to stretch. Between the flight from Dallas and the drive from the airport, I felt like I'd been sitting for days. Eric came to stand next to me, took my hand in his, and entwined our fingers together. We walked silently into the house together. As we did so, I thought back to the funeral we'd attended earlier that day.

Saying a final goodbye to Barry was more difficult than I'd anticipated it being. Thankfully, the gunshot wound that had killed him had been in his chest, so his mother and sister were able to see him one last time. I've been to a large number of funerals in my lifetime, and I've always found that if a closed casket ceremony were required, it was harder on the family. I believe that it's easier in the long run if you can see your loved one. See them at rest, and hopefully, at peace. That was one of the main reasons I was so mad that someone had sent us a picture of Cindy after the car accident. Eric didn't need to see her like that. He didn't need to be reminded that she most likely spent the last seconds of her life in extreme pain and terror.

Normally, when Pam watches the babies for us, she does so in our home, because all of their things are there. So, as we entered the house, I was more than a little surprised to find complete silence. Surely they weren't asleep? My question was answered when we found a note on the refrigerator.

_Eric & Sook--_

_We ran out of milk, I'm on a quick trip to the store._

_-P_

The first time Pam had taken the children somewhere in her car, I'd been very nervous, because she has a tendency to drive a little recklessly. But, she obeyed every traffic law to the letter when they were with her, and she'd spent money of her own to get two of the best car seats available, so it no longer worried me.

Eric and I went into our bedroom to change out of our dress clothes. We'd gone straight from the cemetery to the plane, and hadn't had time to change yet. Once I was more comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt, I asked Eric if he was hungry. He nodded, so I went to the kitchen to make something for the both of us to eat.

A few minutes later he joined me, and we sat together to eat grilled cheese sandwiches. I made a mental note that I needed to go to the grocery store, because we were seriously low on food. I wished that we'd made it home before Pam left. I had missed my children and my sister-in-law, and couldn't wait to see them all.

I was putting our plates into the sink when the doorbell rang. Eric glanced at the security camera monitor, said that it was the FedEx man at the door, and went to get whatever the package was. I watched the monitor and saw him open the door to pick the package off of the porch, and saw Pam's car pulling into the garage.

Eric came back in with a very small box, about the size of a CD case.

"It's addressed to both of us, and the return address is Dallas. Did Barry's family say anything to you about sending us something?"

"No," I said, shaking my head. "Not at all. And I'm sure if they'd sent something, they would've mentioned it."

He opened the package and removed what turned out to be a DVD. Pam came in just as we were discussing whether or not we wanted to actually watch it.

"Hey there, you two. What's that?" She asked, indicating the disc.

"We don't know. It was just delivered, and the return address is Dallas," Eric answered.

She had a stumped look on her face for a moment. She opened her mouth to say something else, but I immediately interrupted her.

"Pam, where's Ryan and Hadley?"

She looked confused. "I was assuming since Felicia's car isn't here anymore, and I don't hear them crying, that they were asleep in the nursery."

Eric and I looked at each other, and I swear I felt my heart stop. He spoke first. "Pam, are you saying that you didn't take them to the store with you?"

Pam shook her head. "No, I knew I wouldn't be gone long, so, I left them with Felicia. Wait, are you saying they're not here? Wasn't she here when you got home?"

"No, she wasn't," I whispered. I felt panic begin to grip at my heart. Pam pulled her cell phone from her pocket, dialed a number, and waited impatiently.

"She's not answering."

Eric immediately went into action. He grabbed his cell phone and called Quinn. In the back of my mind, I wondered idly why he'd called Quinn instead of the police. Pam began making another phone call as well. I didn't know what to do, or who to call. So, oddly enough, I took the disc from Eric's hand and went into our home office with it. I put it in the disc drive of the computer, and clicked the play button.

On the screen was a video of Ryan and Hadley. They were sitting together in a play pen, in a location I'd never seen before. The came zoomed out, and I saw Felicia tied to a chair, a gag stuffed in her mouth, and she was struggling desperately. I yelled for Eric, and he and Pam came running into the room, and froze when they saw what I was seeing.

Then, a man's voice began to talk.

"If you ever want to see your children alive again, Northman, you'll do exactly as I saw. You, your wife, and sister-in-law are to come to the empty warehouse on the corner of Brown and Main. Come alone. I'll be expecting you at 8pm." The disc stopped, showing it was over. I glanced at my watch. It was 6:45pm, and it would take us at least an hour to get to the warehouse.

Eric and I jumped into action. I ran to the bedroom and put on some socks and a pair of sneakers. I grabbed my jacket that had inner pockets, and put my cell phone, taser, and pepper spray in them before slipping it on. Eric had put an untraceable prepaid cell phone and a gun in a safe in his closet just after the first pictures arrived, and he grabbed them, and began to dial Quinn's number.

We walked past the office to find Pam still staring at the computer screen, her hand over her open mouth. I turned to look at Eric, not sure how to handle her.

"Pamela!" He said loudly, catching her attention. "Come on, get to it."

She looked at him with wide eyes. "Eric, I know who did this. I'd recognize that voice anywhere. It's Victor Madden."

Eric stiffened next to me, and I was sure he knew who that was. A moment passed, and neither of them said anything, and I was beginning to get frustrated.

"Okay, could someone please tell **ME** who the hell this person is?"

Eric didn't move a muscle, but his voice was full of pure rage and hate when he said, "It's Lizzie's birth father."

A/N I wanted to take a moment to give a big thumbs up to a few reviewers who correctly guessed who was behind the whole Cindy/Lizzie sightings and photos thing. So, **morecks87, sluggysmom, and MinaMarie, YOU GUYS ROCK!!!**


	14. Chapter 14

**EPOV**

It took me a moment to get control of my anger when Pam us that Madden was behind all of this. I'd never met him, and Cindy only rarely spoke of him. She refused to tell me the circumstances that led to their breakup, saying only that it was too painful to think about.

I sent Pam to her apartment to change out of her high heels and put on some sneakers, and quickly called Quinn. He advised me not to call the police, said he would call a few associates of his, and then would call me back to let me know what he had planned. I told him that as soon as Pam was ready, she, Sookie and I would head towards the warehouse.

The first few miles of our drive were made in complete silence. Sookie's body was practically vibrating with tension. I knew that I should be doing something to help her calm down, but, I didn't think I was capable. Hell, if I was honest, I didn't **want** to calm down. This asshole had my children. He was going to fucking pay, one way or another.

"Pam," I said, watching her in my car's backseat through the rearview mirror. "I know that you and Cindy took promises to each other extremely seriously. She told me that she'd made you promise to never tell me, or anyone else, about what happened between her and Madden that she ended up a single mother. But, I think it's time to break that promise."

I saw the conflict raging in her eyes. She desperately wanted to remain faithful to her beloved twin sister. But, she also knew that the lives of two very innocent children were hanging in the balance. **My **children. **Sookie's** children. She took a long, deep breath, and began to speak.

"Cindy and I met Victor in a bar in New Orleans one year during Mardi Gras. Of course, we were all drunk off our asses, and Cindy ended up going home with him. After that, he was always hanging around our apartment. He gave me the creeps, but, Cindy really liked being the one getting all the attention, for once." I thought back to when the three of us were growing up in Sweden. Pam was the popular one, and Cindy was her shadow. A fact which never made such sense to me, considering they're identical twins.

"They'd been together for about a year when Cin found out she was pregnant. She told Victor, and he was nervous at first, but, he started to act like he was really excited about the whole thing. He wasn't able to go to all of her doctor's appointments with her, but he promised he'd be there when she got the ultrasound done to find out if the baby would be a boy or a girl. He was going to use his lunch break from work for it; so, he told her he'd meet her there. Not only did he not show, but, he didn't call either. She didn't get any word from him for three weeks after that."

I saw tears begin to form in Pam's eyes. She wasn't the type to get very emotional. But, remembering how much pain her sister had gone through still ate at her soul.

"When he finally called her, it was from a jail in Mississippi. He'd been pulled over for speeding in Baton Rouge, but apparently, there was an outstanding warrant for his arrest, for parole violation. Turns out he'd been in prison in Mississippi for a few years for possession of cocaine, and also for armed robbery. When they arrested him in Baton Rouge, he had a trunk full of drugs, and several guns. Not only did he have the parole violation to deal with, but also new charges for possession with intent to sale, and federal gun charges as well."

I felt my grip on the steering wheel tighten considerably. The expression on Sookie's face had gone from worry, to unrestrained anger.

"Cin told him that she never wanted to speak to him ever again. She refused to tell him anything about the baby. She purposefully left his name off of the birth certificate. 3 months before Lizzie was born, we moved, hoping that he'd never be able to find us again. Whenever anyone asked her about the baby's father, she told them she'd been artificially inseminated. Well, until you, Eric. She said she couldn't lie to you like that, because you knew the both of us too well."

"Well, that certainly explains why she had no objections when I told her I wanted to adopt Lizzie," I said bitterly. I felt betrayed.

"Damnit, Eric, don't do that. You know that had NOTHING to do with it. She **wanted** you to adopt Lizzie, even before you ever brought the subject up. She said that you were **always** Lizzie's father, DNA be damned."

"Then why didn't she ever fucking tell me, Pam?" It must have been easy to tell how aggravated I was, because Sookie placed her hand on my knee and squeezed, trying to calm me down.

"Well, if you'd stop fucking interrupting and let me finish, you'll probably understand!" She waited to make sure I wasn't going to say anything, and then continued with her story.

"About 8 months after you guys got married, when you were out of town, Victor showed up at the house one day when Cin was home alone. Lizzie wasn't there, thank God, because I'd taken her to the park. Cin said that he told her he loved her, and he wanted for them and Lizzie to be a family together. He totally freaked out when she told him that she was married and that you'd adopted Lizzie. Turns out, he hadn't actually been released yet. He'd escaped custody during a transfer and had fled Mississippi. He said that, as Lizzie's father, since he'd never signed the form waiving his parental rights, the adoption could be set aside. Cin told him to go ahead and contest the adoption, knowing full well that he wouldn't do it, because he couldn't consult with a lawyer about it considering that he was a fugitive. He told her that somehow, he'd find a way to get rid of you so that the three of them could be a family again.

"When Lizzie and I got home from the park, she was lying on the bed sobbing. She told me the whole story, and said that she was terrified that he'd kill you. She said she had to find a way to leave New Orleans so he couldn't find you guys."

And then everything suddenly clicked. "That was when I was in Denver, wasn't it?"

Pam closed her eyes, and nodded. I felt sick to my stomach. We sat in silence for a few more minutes, before Sookie finally groaned in agitation. I glanced at her for a moment, but quickly looked back at the road ahead of us.

"While I was living in New Orleans, I had a good friend, Mike. His mother was diagnosed with breast cancer about a year before Cindy and I got married. When she passed away, Mike asked me to go to Denver with him for her funeral, because he was having a really rough time. So, of course, I went. It was a few days after I got home that Cindy told me she was pregnant with Mattie. She said that she was worried about raising two young children in New Orleans, and said she wanted to move. We started house hunting shortly after that, and moved up here to Shreveport when she was 5 months along."

"Pam," Sookie said softly, "did she know she was pregnant when Victor showed up?"

I held my breath, not knowing whether or not I wanted to know the answer.

"Yes, she did. She was so scared of Victor, she thought that he would kill Eric, and try to force a miscarriage, or just kill the baby after she'd given birth."

No one said another word. The car was filled with complete silence, until my cell phone rang fifteen minutes later. I glanced at the caller id, and then looked at Sookie.

"It's Quinn." Sookie watched me intently as I listened to Quinn's instructions, and then hung up the phone.

"He's got a plan, but he's banking on the full element of surprise, so he doesn't want me to tell you two what's going to happen."

"God damnit, Eric, this isn't cool. They are my children, too, and I am sick and tired of everyone else knowing everything about this situation, and telling me nothing!"

Any further arguments would have to wait, however, as I pulled into a parking lot, and looked directly into Sookie's eyes. "We're here."


	15. Chapter 15

SPOV

"We're here." I felt my heart drop into my stomach when Eric spoke those words.

In my chosen profession, I'd come across several examples of how there are truly evil people in our world. I'd personally dealt with some of the most horrific ones. My policy had always been that I would never work with someone who had hurt children. It cut too deeply. It hit too close to home after what had happened to my cousin.

But, no matter what precautions I took, it wasn't enough. Here I was, sitting in a car with my husband and sister-in-law, getting ready to literally fight for the life of my children. The evil man who'd taken them had threatened to kill my husband. He had my babies. I closed my eyes and took a couple of deep breaths, and upon opening them, my entire outlook shifted. I was no longer scared. I was beyond that now. I'd moved into complete and utter hatred. This man wanted to do harm to Ryan and Hadley? Over my dead body.

Without saying a word to either Pam or Eric, I got out of the car, and began running towards the entrance on the side of the building. Eric got out of the car yelling my name and began following me, but nothing he could say or do would slow me down, now. I had to get to Ryan and Hadley. I had to make them safe. Then, I had to make Victor Madden pay.

Just as I reached the door and moved to grip the handle, I felt Eric gently collide with me from behind. He wrapped his arm around my waist, held me to him tightly, bent down and whispered, "We're in this together, Sookie."

I took another deep breath, and nodded. His hand joined mine on the handle, and we turned it, and pulled the door open together. The inside of the warehouse was cavernous and dark. Noticing that there weren't any lights on, we held the door open and waited for Pam, using the small amount of light left from the now setting sun to figure out what to do next.

Suddenly, as if from a great distance away, I could hear a baby crying. **MY** baby crying. Eric gripped my hand in his tightly, and I reached around behind me to take Pam's as well, and the three of us started off across the large open space towards what appeared to be a hallway. Once the outside door had finally slammed shut, it was easy to see a light on in the hallway, and the closer we got, the louder the cry became.

We took in our surroundings as we reached the hallway. There were several doors, but only one was open. When we reached the open door, we looked inside, and I immediately recognized the room from the DVD. And, to my great relief, I finally laid eyes on Ryan and Hadley. They were still lying in a crib together, and both were drinking from bottles. As I stepped forward to go to them, I felt Eric pull back gently on my hand, and I knew he was concerned about this being some sort of trap. After all, where was Victor? Where was Felicia? But, all I cared about in that moment was touching my children, and making sure they were alright.

I dropped Eric's hand and rushed forward to the crib, placing a hand on each of their foreheads. My heart skipped a beat at the feel of them. I turned to smile at Eric, but my expression changed immediately. Just as my eyes met Eric's, a man step up behind him, and before I could issue a warning, the man spun Eric around and punched him square on the jaw. Eric fell to the floor, nearly taking Pam with him.

Luckily, however, Eric had not lost consciousness. He stood slowly, and glared at Victor, who was pointing a gun directly at Eric's chest. Using the gun, he motioned for Eric to and Pam to stand beside me. Eric was still rubbing his jaw when Victor began to speak.

"Aww, how sweet, the whole family together, once again." The sound of his voice frightened me. It was low, rough, and was laced with cruelty.

"What the hell do you want from us, Madden?" Eric asked.

"Oh, I really don't want anything from your family, Northman. You, however, are a different matter entirely. I want to take your family away from you, just as you took mine from me."

"Victor, this is crazy! Cindy left you long before Eric came back into our lives," Pam shouted at him. She leaned in closer to me when he turned his gaze to her.

"Pamela, I'd shut the hell up if I were you. Unless you want me to cut your tongue out, that is," he said as he pulled a large knife from a holster at his waist. She and I both stiffened at the sight of it, and Victor smiled at our reaction.

"Now," he said, looking at me, "Mrs. Northman, if you would be so kind as to tie your husband to that chair there, please." He gestured towards the corner, where I saw a chair with a long rope coiled on the seat. I hesitated, but Eric looked at me and just nodded. I brought the chair closer to the crib, and Eric sat down, and I tied him to the chair. It took longer than it should have, considering my hands were shaking because Victor was still pointing his gun at the two of us. Once I'd finished, I stood behind Eric and put my hands on his shoulders.

Victor came towards us, and I had to fight a wave of nausea. He pulled at the ropes in a few places, testing to make sure I hadn't left it loose enough for Eric escape. He nodded his head and his face morphed into a grotesque smile as he stepped back towards the doorway. The silence of the room was broken as Ryan began to fuss a bit. I turned slightly to look at him.

"You can go ahead and pick him up, if you'd like, Mrs. Northman. Despite appearances, I take no pleasure in harming children. They've been well taken care of in my presence."

I huffed and rolled my eyes as I picked Ryan up and stroked his back gently. Hadley must've become jealous of her brother, because she began to fuss as well, so Pam turned and picked her up, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"What have you done with Felicia?" Pam asked as she turned to once again look at Victor. I took a moment to look at her from the corner of my eye. To a stranger, she would appear calm and collected. But, knowing her as well as I did, I could tell that she was nearly vibrating with tension.

Victor laughed, and it was a cold sound. "Oh, yes, I almost forgot about that." He turned his head slightly to call through the doorway, "Felicia, why don't you join us?"

My eyes widened in horror and disgust as Felicia walked into the room and stood next to Victor. It was obvious, now. She'd been with him on this the entire time. And to think, I'd let this woman into my home. I'd trusted her with my children! But, no matter how I was feeling towards her right now, I couldn't imagine how betrayed Pam must've felt. They were getting ready to begin living together for goodness sake!

I saw Pam open her mouth to speak, but no words came out. A moment later, she closed it again, and her jaw tensed in anger. Felicia actually had the gall to look repentant.

"Ya know, Pam," Victor began to speak again, "if you're looking for someone to blame, I should probably let you know that, technically, this whole thing is **your **fault."

"What the hell are you talking about, Madden?" Eric growled.

"Things would've gone so much smoother if you'd just gone batty like I planned, originally." I can only imagine that the expression on my face mirrored the look of utter confusion on Eric's. "Ya see, Northman, you took my family away from me. When I was in prison, all I could think about was being with Cindy and our baby. I was completely fucking pissed off when I found out she'd run away before the baby was born. It took me awhile, but, I finally found her again. I told her we were meant to be together, but, she didn't agree. It seemed she was already married. To **you**. Not only that, but she'd let you adopt **MY** daughter."

I felt Eric tense up, and heard him growl slightly when Victor referred to Lizzie as his.

"She ran from me, again, though. It was harder than I thought it would be to find her, since I had to keep myself off the radar of any cops. A guy I knew said that he'd thought he'd seen her in Shreveport, so I went to look. Imagine my anger when I get there, only to find out that she and my daughter had been killed in a car accident."

"Refer to her as yours one more time, Madden, and I swear to God, I'll…"

"You'll what, Northman?" Victor interrupted Eric's angry words. "I'd say since I'm the one with the gun, you'd better shut the fuck up."

"As I was saying. All I could think of was getting revenge on the asshole who'd taken my family away from me. If it wasn't for you stealing them away, Northman, they never would've been in that damn car in the first place. After I read that you'd gotten arrested and sent to prison for manslaughter, I allowed myself to get arrested as well. I bet you never even **knew** that we were in the same prison at the same time, did you? If you hadn't been in solitary so damn long, I would've killed you in there, no doubt about it.

"Then your ass got released, and I had to wait to make my move yet again. I knew that one of the conditions of your parole would be to stay in the area, so, I wasn't concerned with loosing track of you. But, just in case, I had a friend on the outside watching you. When I got out myself, he told me you'd gotten remarried, and that your wife was pregnant. You didn't deserve a chance at happiness with another family. I was bound and determined to take it from you, just as you took my chance from me.

"No matter how much I hate you though, I couldn't bring myself to hurt your children. I'm not a complete monster, ya know. They didn't pick who their father was. They were innocent. So, I figured if I could break you and your wife up, she'd take the kids, and you'd be alone. I wanted you to feel what it was like to loose everything you'd worked so hard to get. Then, and only then, would I kill you. THAT'S where Felicia came into play."

As if the entire situation wasn't creepy enough, he started pacing back and forth in front of us, almost as if he was talking only to himself. I was sure this guy wasn't all there mentally.

"I knew I'd need to have someone on the inside. So, I called my darling step-sister, Felicia. She never met Cindy, but, she was thrilled when I called her and told her that the woman I'd been seeing was pregnant. She was only too happy to help. Felicia loves children, but can't have any of her own, so she was very distraught when she found out that the niece she never got to meet had been killed.

"So, she got herself hired as your new restaurant manager, and I started looking around for someone who could look almost exactly like Cindy. I found an actress who was pretty hard up for money, and she agreed. By that time, Felicia had gotten hold of a picture of Elizabeth from just before she was killed, and then we found a child of roughly the same height and hair color. Felicia smuggled some old home movies from your place, and we transferred the audio to a CD.

"My cell mate in Shreveport was completely obsessed with this book about vampires, and he would never shut up about it. He'd told me that the bad guy lures his prey by making her think he's got her mother, by playing her mother's voice from some old tapes. I ran with it, and figured that if you **heard** Lizzie and Cindy's voices, and saw someone that looked a lot like them, your mind wouldn't see the differences, and just assume it was them.

"The plan was for you to drive yourself mad, thinking you were seeing them everywhere you went. Then, when your wife finally had enough and left you and took the kids with her, I'd kill you."

I shuddered as how easily he talked about ending Eric's life.

"But, no, this stupid bitch here," he said, pointing the gun at Pam once again, "had to go and ruin everything by being there and seeing them also. There was no way in hell you'd still think the whole thing was just in your head, so I had to come up with something new."

He turned to me, and his features softened just a bit.

"Mrs. Northman, I want you to know that I truly am sorry that you and your children had become as involved as this. Like I said before, I didn't want to hurt the kids. But, you all left me really with no other choice. I had Felicia bring the kids here to me while none of you were with them, knowing that if you thought someone was going to hurt them, you'd come without a second thought."

He paused, and took a deep breath.

"So, now, the plan is to make your husband watch while I kill the rest of you, and then kill him myself. I've got enough to make it look like he went nuts and killed you all before committing suicide."

I felt my heart stop, and all I could hear was the loud roar coming from Eric as he struggled as the ropes that were immobilizing him.


	16. Chapter 16

**EPOV**

From the moment that asshole Madden said he was going to kill my family in front of me, and then kill me, I felt my temper give way. No matter what happened to me, I had to stop him from hurting my family. They deserved better than this. I struggled against the rope that bound me, cursing Sookie's knot-making ability.

Surprisingly, the first people to speak, was Felicia.

"No, Victor, this wasn't how this was supposed to go down. You promised me that you wouldn't harm Pam, Sookie, and the kids. It's just supposed to be Eric."

"Shut up, Felicia!" He shouted. He was starting to loose his cool. "They left me no choice. It's the only way. They have to die."

Sookie and Pam were each still holding one of the kids, and I saw them both tighten their hold, and turn towards each other, trying to create a barrier between Victor and the kids. I continued to struggle as I watched Victor re-holster his knife, and pull a small box from a pocket of his pants. He opened it, and showed us its contents. It held a small syringe.

"This is a concentrated dose of a sedative," he said, and once again looked at Sookie. "Once I inject this into your children, they will go sleep, and simply drift away. They will feel no pain. I'll go as far as to let you hold them once the drug has been administered. Please, believe me when I say that I honesty take no joy in killing them."

"Then why are you doing this?" Sookie's voice quavered.

"Like I said, your husband left me no choice."

He slowly started to walk towards Sookie and Pam, and I knew that the window of opportunity was beginning to close. Sookie and Pam turned and put the kids back into the crib, and tried to block it with their own bodies. Victor just shook his head and said it wouldn't work.

I had managed to partially free one of my hands, and began to work even harder on my escape. When Victor was about two feet away from Pam and Sookie, amazingly, Felicia lunged at him.

"No, Victor, I won't let you do this!" She yelled as she pushed her body into him with all her strength. The force of the impact caused him to drop the box containing the syringe, and I noticed that it also knocked the knife to the ground. While Victor and Felicia continued to struggle against each other, I inched my foot towards the knife, trying to trap the blade with my foot. I was almost there, when the piercing sound of a gunshot rang out.

I looked up at Felicia and Victor, who had both gone completely still and were glaring at each other. A moment later, Felicia's body dropped to the floor. She was dead. Whether Victor had shot her purposefully, or the gun had gone off in the struggle, I didn't know. At this point, I couldn't care.

Victor stood still for a moment looking down at Felicia's body, and the creeping pool of blood that was now filling the area around her. I was just able to nudge the blade of the knife with my toe, allowing me to get the full blade underneath my shoe. I pushed down hard on it, and dragged it back towards myself, until it was on the ground less than a foot away from me. Now, I just needed to get Sookie to see it there.

I heard sniffling, and turned my gaze to the women at my side, and saw tears streaming down Pam's cheeks. Not only had she just found out that her lover had betrayed her, but now she's witnessed the death of that lover. I knew that she would never be the same after this day.

I tried to move my elbow just enough to nudge Sookie, and after another moment, she looked down at me. I raised my eyebrows to her and pointedly looked down at the knife on the ground between us. She very lightly nodded my head, and I knew she'd seen it.

"Well, not exactly what I was going for, but, it'll have to do," Victor said, and looked back up at us. His eyes looked cold, and empty. There was no doubt that this man was not in his right mind. All the more reason to stop him, the sooner the better.

He took in a deep breath, and began looking at the floor around him. Once he saw the place where he'd dropped the syringe, he turned his back to us, and bent to pick it up. The moment Victor's back was turned, Sookie grabbed the knife from the ground. But, what she did next horrified me. She didn't use it to cut the rope away from me. Instead, she raised it and lunged for Victor.

She drove the knife into Victor's spine, and then pushed him forward while keeping a firm grip on the handle, so Victor fell, but the knife remained in Sookie's hand. I heard the gun clatter on the floor as he went down. Victor screamed in pain, and began to struggle back to his feet. Sookie backed up and began to try and cut away the rope from around me. But, Victor must not have been as hurt as she thought he was, because he was quickly on his feet, charging at her.

With a force I'd never thought her to be capable of, she pushed the knife into Victor's stomach, just below his ribcage. He fell to the ground once more, but this time he took Sookie with him. I yelled for Pam to grab the gun, but, she just stood still, watching the scene in front of her with wide eyes. She was clearly in shock.

I fought harder and harder at the rope that was binding me, while I continued to watch Sookie try to disentangle her limbs from Victor's. A moment later, she was free, and put her hands on the side of his head, pulled slightly upward, and then pushed hard, slamming his head into the concrete floor. Victor's body went limp, but she continued to pick his head up, and bang it back down, over and over. She was screaming incoherently at him, while I continued to yell at Pam to try and get her to snap out of her trance.

With all the noise, I'm not surprised that none of us heard the sounds of Quinn, Sam, and two other men running through the warehouse, until the joined us in the small room. Once I saw them, though, I quit struggling and looked directly at them, seeing the pure shock on their faces. Sam moved to my back and began untying the rope, while Quinn crouched down next to Sookie, trying to pull her from Victor. She was still beating his skull against the ground.

Just when Sam had the rope untied, Quinn moved to Sookie's back, wrapped her arms around her stomach, and pulled her away from Victor. She struggled against Quinn, arms and legs flaying about. As soon as I could stand, I moved to stand in front of her, and pulled her into my arms, holding her tightly, trying to calm her down. After another couple of moments of struggling, she went limp in my arms, buried my head against my chest, and began sobbing in earnest.

Quinn bent down to check for a pulse from both Victor and Felicia, then stood, pulled his cell phone from his pocket, and quickly dialed a phone number. I shifted my gaze to the crib holding Ryan and Hadley and saw that Sam had picked up Hadley and was stroking her back. Pam must've finally snapped out of her trance, because she was holding Ryan and rocking side to side, trying to quiet his screams.

As soon as the person on the other line answered, Quinn began speaking.

"Bud, it's Quinn. You'd better send someone out to the warehouse at the corner of Brown and Main." He paused for a moment and listened. "Yeah, Eric, Sookie, Pam and the kids are all okay. You'll need to bring the coroner with you. We've got two dead bodies for him to deal with."

**A/N I have to admit, I was blown away at how many people assumed Quinn would show up and save the day. Sorry this is so short, but, I'm not sure when I'll be able to post again during the next week, and I didn't want to just leave you all hanging!!!**


	17. Chapter 17

EPOV

I continued to hold Sookie in my arms while she cried. I gently rubbed circles on her back, trying to calm her. She'd been through something so terrible, but, it was far from over. We'd need to speak with the police about what had happened. And what had happened? How did it come to this? How did we find ourselves in a situation where Sookie was forced to kill a man in order to prevent him from murdering us all? I just couldn't wrap my mind around it.

A few moments later, Sookie pushed away from me, and turned towards Sam, holding her arms out for Hadley. Sam walked over and gently placed Hadley in Sookie's arms, and pressed a kiss to Sookie's forehead, before walking back to join Quinn and the now arriving police officers. I leaned in and kissed Hadley gently, and then walked to Pam to take Ryan from her. She had a very blank expression on her face, and tears were silently flowing down her cheeks. I don't think the full force of what had occurred had actually hit her yet.

I guided Sookie to the chair I'd been tied to, and she sat, and leaned her head into my stomach as we each continued to hold close the children in our arms. The coroner arrived shortly thereafter, and it wasn't long until both Felicia and Victor's bodies were taken away. Eventually, the sheriff came to speak with us.

"Mr. Northman, Mrs. Northman, we're going to need for both of you to come in and give us a statement of what happened here. There's no question that all of this was in self-defense, but, we need to get everything down nevertheless."

I was just beginning to nod my head in agreement when Sookie spoke. "Actually, Sheriff, could we maybe do this one at a time? I'm sure it'd be better for you to speak with us without the children there, but, considering what just happened, I don't want the children to be left with anyone other than myself and my husband." The Sheriff seemed slightly surprised, but, nodded his head in agreement.

Sookie stood and faced me. "Eric, why don't you take the kids home, feed them and get them to bed, and I'll go with the sheriff first. I'm afraid if I don't go over this now, I won't remember everything as clearly."

I reluctantly agreed, and she helped me load the babies into the car before leaving with Quinn and Sam to give her statement. Pam joined me, and we drove in silence all the way home. As soon as she helped me get Ryan and Hadley inside, she hugged me, whispered goodnight, and left.

I fed the children, got them changed into their pajamas, and had them asleep in their cribs in no time. I took a very long, very hot shower as the events of earlier replayed themselves over and over in my mind. When the water finally began to turn cold, I got out and dried off, put on a pair of lounge pants, and laid down on the bed to wait for Sookie.

She arrived home about an hour later, and immediately went to the nursery to check on the kids. I decided to stay where I was, and let her have a moment with them in privacy. When she finally came into the bedroom, she kicked her shoes off before going into the bathroom and turning on the shower. She stuck her head out a moment later and told me that the sheriff would expect me at 10am the next morning, before shutting and locking the door.

I was curious as to why she locked the door, since she'd never done that while showering before. But, knowing how upset she must be, I decided not to worry about it. I must have fallen asleep before she came out, because next thing I knew, it was 8am, and I was in bed alone. Her side of the bed was untouched, and I was confused as to why until I saw a blanket and pillow on the rocking chair in the nursery.

I found Sookie and both of the kids in the kitchen, where she was feeding them breakfast and nursing a mug of coffee. She stood and poured me a mug as well, and asked if I was hungry. When I told her no, she sat back down to finish feeding the twins.

"I spoke to Jason for a few minutes," she said a few minutes later. "When I told him what happened, he insisted on driving up here. But, I told him not to, because I wanted to go out to the farmhouse today anyway." This came as a surprise to me, so I waited for further explanation while I helped her clean the kids up. "I just need to get away from the city. I'm just a little overwhelmed right now, I guess."

"Alright, well, why don't you get some things packed up, and when I get back from the police station, we'll drive out there and plan on staying for a couple of days."

"Actually, I thought I might leave while you were meeting with the sheriff."

I stopped what I was doing and put my hands on her shoulders, forcing her to face me. "Sookie, don't run away from me. We need to stick together if we're going to get through this."

"I know, Eric. I just thought I'd get an early start on things at the house. There's no food, and we'll need to set the portable cribs up, so, I figured I'd get started on that while we were waiting for you."

I knew there was something she wasn't telling me, but I made the choice to ignore it for now. I just had to keep reminding myself that she'd been through a horrible ordeal, and might not be acting completely rationally because of it. I dressed, kissed her and the kid's goodbye, telling her I'd meet her at the farmhouse this afternoon, and headed to the police station.

After having already spoken to Quinn and Sookie, the sheriff knew all the details, but, still needed to have a signed statement from me anyway. We spent two hours going over the details of what had happened with Victor, and I left after he said he'd be in touch if he needed anything else. I told him that we would be staying at Sookie's family home for a while, and he took down our cell numbers.

As I was making my way towards my car in the parking lot, Pam was making her way in.

"Eric." She said, her voice completely devoid of emotion. "How'd it go?"

"Fine. They pretty much knew everything anyway. It seems that Sookie went into quite a lot of detail when she was here last night."

She nodded her head, and for the briefest of moments, closed her eyes and pressed her fingers to her own mouth. I knew she was fighting the urge to cry. "Do you remember Thalia?" she asked. I nodded, remembering well Pam's former lover in New Orleans that she'd stayed friends with long after their short but passionate affair had ended. "Well, I spoke with her for a few minutes this morning, and, first thing tomorrow I'm going to drive down to New Orleans and spend a few days with her. I just need to get away from all of this right now."

I gave her a half-hearted smile. "That seems to be a common thing. Sookie is packing up some things for the two of us and the twins, and I'm supposed to meet her at the farmhouse this afternoon."

She smiled and nodded again, and began walking towards the building. Just before I turned to leave, she stopped, and turned back to face me again. "Eric, for what it's worth, I'm sorry. I guess I should've picked up that something wasn't quite right with Felicia. I just…." But, she couldn't finish.

I walked to her and pulled her into a hug. "Pam, none of this was your fault. You don't have to apologize for anything. You were betrayed just as much as Sookie and I were, probably even more so. Take however much time you need. We'll be here for you when you get back, okay?" She nodded again, and I watched her enter the building before climbing into my car and leaving.

I was anxious to get to Sookie and the twins as soon as possible, so I headed straight for the interstate. After a few miles had passed, I picked up my cell phone and called Claude, the floor manager for the bar. He'd already heard about what happened, so, he wasn't surprised when I told him that neither Pam nor I would be at the bar or restaurant for at least a few days. He assured me that he would take care of everything, and would begin drafting an ad stating that we were hiring a new restaurant manager.

When I finally pulled into the long winding drive of the farmhouse that became Sookie's after her grandmother passed away, I felt a load of tension ease. I could see her car, and was relieved to know that soon I could hold her, and our children, close to me for as long as I wanted to. However, I was soon disappointed to find two other vehicles parked there as well. One I immediately recognized as her brother Jason's pickup truck. The other, I'd never seen before. It was a large, pristine looking white truck, with writing on the side. Once I was parked, I went to take a closer look to see if I could determine who our other guest was. I felt my hands clench into fists reflexively when I read "Herveaux & Son."

I took in a deep breath, trying to gather myself before I made my way into the house. Sure, her ex-fiancé is in the house with her and our children. But, her brother is **also** there. So, nothing bad could possibly be happening, right? I walked faster after determining that I wasn't so sure about that.

I opened the front door, and immediately heard the familiar sounds of Jason playing with the twins. I could tell that the noise was coming from the master bathroom, so, I made my way there. What I found when I entered the master bedroom had me feeling guilty for ever thinking someone untoward could be happening. Sookie and Jason were sitting on the bed playing with the twins, and through the open doorway to the bathroom I could see Alcide using a wrench on some of the pipes under the vanity.

Sookie smiled when she saw me. "Hi baby," she said, before making another silly face at Hadley. I smiled back, walked over and kissed the top of her head before reaching down and tickling Hadley's toes. Jason and I exchanged greetings, and I gladly accepted when he asked if I wanted to hold Ryan.

The three of us continued to play with the twins for a few more minutes until Alcide stood up and came back out of the bathroom. "Well, Sook, I think that does it."

"Thank you so much Alcide. I can't tell you how grateful I am." She turned her attention to me, finally realizing how desperate I was for an explanation. "When we first got here, the twins were asleep, so, I laid them down on the bed and started putting groceries away, and then set the cribs up. Everything was so dusty, and when I went into the bathroom to wash my hands, water just went everywhere! I turned the faucet off, and noticed a crack in one of the pipes. Jason got here right about that time, and said that he'd bumped into Alcide at a diner not far from here, and that maybe he could come over and fix it. He got here about 45 minutes ago."

I was more than a little surprised when Alcide reached out to shake my hand. "It's good to see you again, Eric." I shook his hand and nodded at him. "Well, if you'll excuse me for a moment, I'm gonna take my tools out to the truck."

As soon as he left the room, Sookie filled me in on the fact that he'd refused to let her pay for the work he'd done, so she'd asked him to stay for dinner instead. She also told me that while Jason had been completely filled in on the events of last night, Alcide had no clue, and she wanted it to remain that way.

We knew that before long, the media would catch on to the fact that a convicted felon and his wife, once his probation officer, had caused the death of another convicted felon, after he'd abducted their two small children. However, we wanted to keep it to ourselves for as long as possible. We weren't looking forward to our pain being general public knowledge.

Sookie, Jason and I took the twins into the kitchen, and Jason and I began feeding them while Sookie gathered ingredients for spaghetti. It wasn't hard for Jason to keep Hadley entertained while she ate, because he kept making faces at the not-so-great smell of her baby food, and I think she was laughing more than she was eating. In the back of my mind, I thanked the gods that Ryan and Hadley were so young, and would never remember the previous day's events.

Alcide came back into the kitchen, and he and Jason and Sookie spent a while discussing mutual friends. Apparently, when Sookie and Alcide had been a couple, he and Jason had become good friends. Jason had been furious at him when Alcide left Sookie for Debbie, and had stopped speaking to him. He seemed only too glad to give their friendship another try.

While we ate, the conversation comfortably shifted into Jason telling all of us about his renovation plans for his home. As a contractor, Alcide had several suggestions, and Jason was more than happy to take them. It did not, however, escape my attention that every once in a while Alcide would find a way to touch Sookie. Most of it was seemingly innocent, an accidental brush of the hand here, a pat on the shoulder there; but I was not at all fooled. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore.

"So, Alcide, how's Debbie?" I figured the best way to get the man to stop touching **my** wife, was to get him thinking about his **own**.

"Oh, well, actually, I filed for divorce a couple of weeks ago."

Sookie took this moment to begin clearing away the dishes. "I'm sorry to hear that, Alcide. What happened?" She asked, sounding much more interested than I'd like for her to be.

"Honestly, after we had dinner with the two of you and Sandra and Barry," I noticed Sookie's shoulders slump slightly at the mention of Barry's name, "I knew I just couldn't take it anymore. As soon as we left the restaurant, she just kept bad mouthing the two of you. And then, after Barry left, she and Sandra started talking rudely about him as well. I guess I just figured I'd had enough of her attitude." Well, as much as I didn't like this man, I found myself agreeing with him on that point. Debbie certainly had an attitude problem, and I couldn't at all blame him for wanting to get away from that. "Listen, Sookie, I know how close you and Barry were, and, I wanted to tell you how sorry I was when I heard about his death. He was a good kid."

Sookie was standing at the sink with her back to us, but I could tell by her body language that she was silently crying. With everything that had happened with Victor, it felt odd to remember that it was only yesterday afternoon we'd attended Barry's funeral.

After we'd finished cleaning up the kitchen, Jason and Alcide sat on the couch talking while Sookie and I changed the twins and got them to bed. Just as I was about to leave the nursery, she took my hand in hers and gave me the look that says 'I have something important to talk to you about.' I raised my eyebrows, indicating she should proceed.

"Eric, I know you probably aren't going to like this, but, would you mind leaving for just a bit so that I can speak with Alcide in private?" She was right, I didn't like it. "Jason mentioned earlier needing some help moving some furniture around in his living room, and I thought maybe you could go over and help him with that, and I could talk to Alcide. He and I never really had any closure in our relationship. I've moved on to **much** bigger and better things (I smirked when she said bigger….), so I don't need this. But, especially with his marriage ending, I kind of get the feeling that Alcide **does**."

I looked into her eyes for a moment while I considered her request. Helping others is something she loved doing, and was very good at. I knew that, in doing this, not only would she be helping Alcide, but she would also be helping herself to move past recent events. I nodded my head, and leaned over and kissed her softly, moving my hand to caress her cheek. As the kiss ended, we put our foreheads together, and I heard her whisper, "thank you."

When we joined our guests in the living room, I looked to Jason and said, "Jason, Sookie said something about you needing some help moving some furniture? Do you want me to follow you to your place and we can get that done?"

Jason looked a little surprised, but, nodded and smiled while thanking me. Alcide looked a little smug at the prospect of being alone with Sookie, but I wasn't worried. I trusted her completely.

Jason hugged Sookie, and we were on our way. Moving the furniture wasn't at all difficult, but, I understood why he couldn't have done it on his own. The size and shape of his couch would've made it very difficult for one person, especially with the limited amount of free space in his living room. Sookie had told me not long after we'd met that Jason had moved back into the home they'd lived in with their parents when he turned 21. It was a beautiful, if somewhat small, home, and I could tell he took a lot of pride in maintaining it.

It took us about 45 minutes to get everything moved, and I was glad to be on my way, anxious to have some quality "alone-time" with my wife. I was **not** happy to see Alcide's truck still parked in front of the house when I arrived. I walked into the house, expecting to find the two of them sitting in the living room, and was surprised to find it empty, and dark. I could see the faint glow coming from the nightlight in the nursery, and further down the hall, the bedroom door was halfway open, and the light was on.

I tried to be as silent as possible walking down the hall, because I didn't want to wake the babies. I took a step into the nursery, and smiled down at their sleeping forms. They looked so peaceful, so perfect. I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer, thankful once again that they'd come through our ordeal unharmed. I was brought out of my thoughts by the sound of a low moan coming from the bedroom. That was when it registered that I hadn't heard either Alcide or Sookie actually **say** anything since I'd gotten here.

I left the nursery, and made my way to the bedroom doorway. I felt my blood boil at what I saw. Sookie and Alcide were standing next to the bed, and his arms were around her, and he was kissing her fiercely. She didn't seem to be actively participating, but, it didn't look like she was trying to push him away, either. After a moment, though, she put her hands on his shoulders and forced him to take a step back.

"Alcide," she said, panting, "We can't do this."

"Oh come on, Sookie, you know we both want this."

"No, Alcide. I'm married, and I love my husband very much."

I choose this moment to make my presence known. I pulled the door open the rest of the way, and let my body fill the entryway. "Glad to hear it," I said. Alcide looked at me, and his face held a mixed look of both triumph and fear. Sookie, however, looked shocked, and guilty.


	18. Chapter 18

SPOV

I stood at the front door of the farmhouse, gazing outside and watching Jason and Eric drive away from the house. I knew that Alcide was sitting on the couch behind me, probably starring at my ass, but I wasn't ready to turn and face him yet. I hadn't **wanted** Eric to leave. I wanted nothing more than to be in his tight embrace. My mind was still reeling from the events of the past few days. But, I knew that this was something that had to be done, sooner rather than later.

After both vehicles had disappeared from sight, I reluctantly shut the door, and turned to face Alcide. He was sitting in the middle of the couch, with his feet up on my Grandmother's coffee table, his arms extended over the back of both of the remaining seats on the couch. I was reminded why I was glad that we'd never married.

Not wanting to sit on the couch, knowing his arm would slide from it to me, I perched myself on the arm of the recliner set across from it. I hoped that my precarious position would reflect my desire to keep this conversation short.

"Alcide, I asked Eric to go with Jason so that you and I could have some time to talk, just the two of us." He smirked, and I knew he was misreading my intentions. "First off, I really do want to thank you for your willingness to come over today and fix that pipe for me."

"It's no problem at all, Sookie. You know I'm here for you, in any way you need me to be." Oh brother, he sure wasn't making this easy on me.

"Well, I'm just glad that you had the right size pipe in your truck. But, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. Alcide, back when we were together, I know how hard it was for you when I miscarried." His smile faltered, and I could see pain in his eyes. "I know how badly you wanted to be a father. But, you have to believe that, at the time, I **did** want to have a baby with you. I did **not** do anything to purposefully cause what happened. Maybe I could've taken better care of myself, or maybe it just wasn't meant to be."

He put his feet back on the ground, sat up, and stared down at his hands in his lap. "Sookie, I know that it's not enough for me to say I'm sorry, but I really am. I know that I was too hard on you. I was just so damned excited at the thought of having a child that was part you, part me. When the doctor told us that you may not ever be able to have children, it tore me up. Plus, I'd been seeing Debbie on the side, and, I knew she was pregnant. I was mad at myself for getting into that situation, and, like the asshole I was, I took it out on you."

It didn't escape my attention that he referred to himself being an asshole in the past tense. The jury was still out on that as far as I was concerned. Before I got the chance to say anything else, I heard Ryan fussing in the nursery.

"Alcide, will you excuse me for just a moment, please. He's a light sleeper when he first goes down, so if I rock him for just a few minutes he should be out again quite quickly."

I stood, and began to walk down the hall to the nursery, when I heard Alcide say, "Sookie, I'm going to pour myself another glass of iced tea. Would you like some?"

"Yes, please."

I picked Ryan up from his crib, and cradled him to my chest as I sat in the rocking chair. I softly stroked his back and rocked while humming the song that Gran used to sing to Jason, Hadley and I when we were children. I smiled a bit, and I'm sure I blushed, when I remembered the first time Eric heard that particular song. I had been unaware that my voice would carry to his room from mine through the air vents. Especially considering when the song didn't work to help me sleep, I had to pleasure myself to calm down, and Eric heard every second of it, including the part where I called out **his** name at my climax.

Ryan was back to sleep in less than five minutes, and I placed a kiss to his forehead and laid him back in the crib. I watched Hadley sleep for a moment, and then went back down the hallway to finish my conversation with Alcide. He was standing in front of the fireplace, looking at the various pictures sitting on the mantle. One in particular had caught his attention.

"I remember when this was taken," he said, turning and handing me a glass of iced tea. He motioned to the picture of Jason, Gran and I on the porch swing that had been on the front porch of this house since before I was born. Alcide himself had taken this photo about a year before we broke up.

"Yeah, you and I came to visit Gran, and of course Jason just had to come over because he knew that Gran would be cooking something delicious since she had company." We both laughed, remembering how you could always predict Jason's comings and goings based on what Gran had decided to cook.

"God Sookie, we were so happy back then. What the hell ever happened to us?"

"Life happened, Alcide. We both continued to go down our paths in life, and, our paths drifted apart. We just weren't right for each other, I guess." I took a long drink of the tea, savoring the taste. Eric had never been a big fan of iced tea, so we rarely had it at home.

"Well, regardless, I am sorry that things ended the way they did. I regret hurting you like that. You deserved better then." He said, and then smiled a little and added, "You still do."

I smiled, and laughed a little. He looked confused and asked, "What's funny?"

I laughed again, and sang, "I'm not sorry that it's over, but for the way we let it end." When he still looked confused, I said, "It's from one of my favorite Carrie Underwood songs." He smiled, nodded, and gave a sort of 'it figures' look.

While he had been looking at the photos, I'd sat down at one end of the couch, and after a moment, he made his way over and sat on the other end. After a moment of silence, I said, "Alcide, tell me about Debbie's pregnancy." I saw him stiffen, and while I waited for him to speak, I took another large drink of my tea. It was beginning to feel a little warm in the room, and I wondered idly why Alcide hadn't put more ice in my drink.

"Well, we got married when she was six months along. I went to almost all of her doctor appointments. I was ecstatic. At first, it seemed like she was, too. But, the closer and closer we got to her due date, she started to act like maybe having a baby wasn't such a great deal after all. I figured it was just nerves, and that she was sick of being uncomfortable and pregnant." I smiled slightly, remembering **exactly** what that felt like. "She led me to believe that everything was fine, and that everything was normal. Then, one Saturday, two weeks before the due date, we were having a lazy day and had been just lying around in bed all day. I kept putting my hand on her stomach, wanting to feel the baby kick. After a few hours, I hadn't felt anything. So, I asked her when the last time she'd felt him move was." He paused, took a drink of his ice, and closed his eyes for a moment before continuing. "She said she hadn't felt him for at least 3 days."

I gasped, completely shocked. How could she have known that and not mentioned it to him? Was she **hoping** to loose the baby?

He nodded his head at my shocked reaction. "I told her that we needed to get to the doctor right away. She agreed to go, but was acting quite indifferent to the whole situation. We went straight to the ER, and after a few tests, the doctor told us that the baby had died. Debbie refused to let them induce labor so she could deliver, and they had to….they had to do it surgically. As soon as Debbie was released from the hospital and was given the 'all clear' from her doctor, she started doing everything she could to get her figure back. We never talked about the baby. I thought that she never brought it up because, like me, she was having a tough time dealing with it. About a year later, I asked her when she thought she might be ready to try to get pregnant again. She told me that it wasn't possible. She said that when they did the surgery, there were complications, and she was told she'd never be able to conceive." I was reminded of my own situation, and wondered how Debbie had reacted to the news. "I was pretty mad at her and told her that she should've told me sooner. She said she knew how upset I was, and didn't want to make it any worse at the time. Stupid me actually fucking believed her." He stood and began to pace, and I could easily see that he was still very hurt by her actions. "You know, the day before I filed for divorce, we were arguing about something completely unrelated, and in her anger, she told me that she lied about it. She said that just before they took her into surgery, she **asked** the doctor to tie her tubes. She never wanted kids. That's why she didn't tell me when the baby wasn't kicking."

My heart broke for him. If there was one thing that I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt when Alcide and I were a couple, it was that he wanted to be a father. And the woman he'd ended up with not only felt differently, but she lied to him about it for years. I finished the rest of my tea, stood, and walked over to him and put my hand on his shoulder.

"Alcide, I'm so sorry. I can't imagine how hard that must've been for you."

We just stood like that for a moment, with Alcide trying to compose himself while I tried to give what comfort I could offer. Suddenly, we found ourselves standing in the dark. I turned and looked at the lamp on the other side of the room, and walked over to check the bulb. There was a small amount of light coming from the night light in the nursery, and I used it to unscrew the light bulb and shake it. Sure enough, I heard the telltale rattle.

"Bulb burnt out. I've got another one in the closet in the bedroom," I said, and started to walk down the hall. After a couple of steps, I began to feel sort of dizzy, and had to stop walking for a minute.

"Are you alright, Sookie?" Alcide asked.

"I'm fine, just a little dizzy. I'm sure it'll pass." I took a couple of deep breaths, and then began to walk towards the bedroom again. Alcide must've been concerned, because he followed me. I stepped into the bedroom, and turned on the overhead light. Things seemed slightly blurry to me, but, I figured it was just my eyes trying to adjust to being in the light again. I walked to the closet, opened it, and stood on tip toes to find the light bulb. Once again, I was overwhelmed with dizziness, and felt myself stumble. Just when I should've begun to fall, I felt Alcide's hands at my waist, and he guided me to the bed.

"Sookie, are you sure you're alright?"

"I don't know. I'm suddenly feeling a little odd."

"Why don't you just sit for a moment, and I'll grab the bulb, alright." I nodded, and watched as Alcide went to the closet, grabbed a new light bulb from the shelf, shut the closet door and set the bulb on my dresser.

I continued to sit on my bed and take deep breaths, waiting for the feeling to pass. I wasn't sure, but I thought I heard a car pull into the drive. When I heard the front door open and softly close, I assumed Eric was home, and found that I desperately wanted him with me. I got to my feet, and began to move toward the door, but I stumbled, and sort of fell into Alcide. It was like every action of my body was delayed. I was unable to prevent my body pressing Alcide's as he tried to steady me. I felt my breasts push against his chest, and he moaned at the contact.

Before I could stop him, Alcide's arms were around me and he was kissing me. It seemed like to no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get my arms to work well enough to push him away. Finally, after a moment of concentration, I was finally able to put my hands on his shoulders and push enough for him to take a small step back from me.

"Alcide," I said, trying to catch my breath, "We can't do this."

He nudged me with his nose and said, "Oh come on, Sookie, you know we both want this."

I couldn't believe my ears. How could he possibly think I wanted this? That I wanted him? I had to make him see reason. "No, Alcide. I'm married, and I love my husband very much."

I wanted to use what little energy I had to push him further away from me, but was stopped when the door to the bedroom swung open, and I saw Eric standing there. "Glad to hear it," he said, obviously referring to my last comment. When I realized what this must have looked like to him, I felt incredibly guilty. I should've known better than to ask him to leave while Alcide was here.

I turned, and tried to walk to Eric, but my feet got tangled up, and I fell to the floor. Alcide seemed to take a step back, and Eric bent down to help me up. He must've realized how dazed I was.

"Sookie, what's wrong?" I could hear both anger and fear in his voice.

"I don't know, Eric. We were in the living room drinking iced tea, and the light bulb in the lamp blew, so I came back here to get a new one. But I started feeling really dizzy, and just weird, and now I can't hardly see straight."

He picked me up and set me down on the bed, making sure I was away from the edge, and propped me against the pillows. Before I could really register what he was going to do, he turned, grabbed Alcide by the throat, threw him against the wall, and said, "What the hell did you do to my wife?"

I couldn't believe it. Alcide would never have done anything to make me sick, would he? The answer to my unspoken question came when Eric shook Alcide again, and we all heard the sound of something dropping. Something had fallen out of Alcide's pocket, and was now rolling around the floor. I felt my heart drop into my stomach when I realized it was a pill bottle.

Eric bent, picked it up and studied it before a moment, before turning his attention once again to Alcide. I'd never heard his voice sound more cold. "So, tell me Herveaux, how many vicodin did you slip her?"


	19. Chapter 19

**EPOV**

I was only holding onto my sanity by a very loose thread. The bastard had drugged my wife. What the hell was he thinking? I can honestly say that if the twins weren't sleeping in the next room, one of two things would happen; either he'd be dead, or he'd never walk again.

"Answer me, you son of a bitch!" I yelled at him, putting more pressure on his neck. I knew that the way I was holding him was extremely painful to him, but not enough that he couldn't answer my question.

"Two," he finally croaked out.

I dropped him to the floor, grabbed my cell phone of my pocket, and began dialing Jason's number while I grabbed Sookie's purse. Jason answered after the second ring.

"Hey man, what's up? Did you miss me already?"

"Jason, can you get over here as fast as possible? I need to take your sister to the emergency room, and I was hoping you'd stay with the twins." I was digging around in Sookie's purse while I spoke.

He was silent only for a moment, then quickly said, "I'm on my way," and ended the call.

I found what I was looking for in the purse, put it down, and tried to get Sookie up. "Come on, baby, you need to sit up for me now. We're gonna get your shoes on, and the second Jason gets here we're going to the hospital."

She moaned a little, and I could see that she was struggling to open her eyes and sit up. I got her propped up against the headboard, slipped her shoes back onto her feet, and lifted her into my arms to start taking her toward the car. I knew I wouldn't be able to do this completely on my own, and I hated that I'd have to ask Alcide for his help.

He was still slumped down on the floor, so I nudged him, not too gently, with my foot. "Get up, asshole; I need you to open doors for me so I can get her into the car. I'll need to leave here the second Jason gets here."

He looked up at me while I was crazy, but stood and began to walk down the hallway towards the front of the house. "What the hell, man? It was only two vicodin, it's not like I dumped the whole bottle in her drink. Just let her sleep it off."

Clearly, the man was more than just a conniving, vindictive asshole. He was also a complete fucking idiot. "Because, you damn moron, she's fucking **ALLERGIC** to vicodin!"

He turned to face me, and froze. He was just standing there was if we had all the time in the world. I looked down at Sookie in my arms. She was unconscious. This was not good. "**FUCKING MOVE!**" I said with as much force as I could, while trying to be quiet enough to not wake the babies. He seemed to snap out of his trance, opened the front door, and ran down the stairs towards my car to open the passenger door.

I had just finished putting the seatbelt around Sookie when I heard Jason's pick-up flying down the drive. I shut the car door, and turned to face Alcide, who was standing a few feet behind me. I finally let my anger get the best of me, and with no warning, I drew back my fist and punched Alcide hard. I both felt and heard the crunching of bones, and I knew I'd broken his nose. He fell hard to the ground, and when he didn't move, I figured I'd knocked him out.

Jason pulled to a stop besides my car and jumped out. "What the hell happened, Eric?"

I motioned to Alcide and said, "Fuck wad over here took it upon himself to slip two vicodin in her iced tea." I saw the rage take over Jason's features, and he drew back his foot and kicked Alcide hard in the abdomen. I'd be surprised if he hadn't broken a couple of ribs.

I rushed to get into the drivers seat while I spoke. "Ryan and Hadley are asleep in the nursery. Call the police and have them come arrest his ass. I'll call you after I've talked to the doctor." Jason nodded, and I started the car, and began driving as fast as I safely could.

Once I'd turned from the long drive out onto the roadway, I called 911 so they could let the hospital know we were on our way. Sookie would need to have her stomach pumped, to get out whatever her body hadn't absorbed yet. But, it had already been in her system so long, I was sure they were going to have to put her on a ventilator. The last time she'd taken vicodin, which also happened to be the first time, was when she had her wisdom teeth removed when she was 16. She said her throat had swollen shut, and she wasn't able to breath on her own for a little over 24 hours.

Thankfully, they **were** prepared and waiting for us at the hospital. A doctor and two nurses were waiting with a gurney, and as soon as I pulled up, they had Sookie out, on the table, and were wheeling her in while I parked the car. I rushed into the hospital, and handed the woman at the main desk the insurance information I'd grabbed from Sookie's purse, and was about to rush to Sookie's side, when the woman told me that I wasn't allowed to go back just yet. She could see that I was very obviously upset, and she told me that as soon as the doctors could, they'd come get me.

I was mad as hell. The last thing I wanted to do was sit in the damn waiting room, not knowing what was happening with my wife. I paced a bit, and tried to take a few deep breaths to calm myself. Hadn't we been through enough already? When would everything end?

After about ten minutes, a doctor came out, and said he'd take me to see Sookie while he explained her condition to me. As we walked, he told me that they'd been able to get a smaller tube down her throat before it was very swollen, so she'd be able to breathe easier, and that they gave her some drugs that were rapidly beginning to counteract the vicodin. He said she would need to rest for a while, but, that she would be fine, and could most likely go home tomorrow morning.

I sat in a chair next to her bed, and held her hand in mine. So much had happened to try and take her away from me. I was more determined than ever to not let that happen. I called Jason and filled him in on what the doctor said, and he sounded extremely relieved. He told me that the police had been by to pick up Alcide, and that before they could take him to the jail, they'd have to take him to the hospital. Turns out he had a broken nose, a concussion, and three cracked ribs. I found myself smiling thinking of his pain.

After I'd hung up with Jason, I called Sam, knowing he'd want to know that Sookie was in the hospital. I filled him in on everything, and he promised that first thing in the morning, he, and his fiancé Holly would drive to the farmhouse to take over for Jason, they'd feed the kids breakfast get them dressed, and take care of them until Sookie was released. I also called Pam, and although she offered to cancel her trip to New Orleans, I talked her out of it. She needed a break, and I was determined she get it.

I had been just drifting off to sleep when I felt Sookie's hand tighten on mine. I turned and looked at her, and found that she was indeed awake. She looked scared and confused, so I pushed the call button for the nurse to let them know she'd woken up, and told her where she was and why. A few minutes later, her doctor came in, and they removed the tube from her throat. She immediately began drinking water and sucking on ice cubes to try and alleviate the dryness and pain from the tube. She'd been instructed not to try to speak just yet, so, I would have to wait until tomorrow to hear what exactly had happened while I was at Jason's.

She moved as far as she could to one side of the bed, and patted the space next to her, and I gladly laid down and took her into my arms. We laid together, just holding each other, for what seemed like hours. It had been so long since we'd been able to do this. It felt like coming home after a long journey. I felt her body relax as she fell asleep, and I drifted off as well not long afterwards.

I woke the next morning to the wonderful smell of coffee, and the ache of trying to sleep in a space way too small for my body. I sat up, and found that Jason had just walked in. He smiled and handed me a large cup of wonderful goodness from Starbucks. I thanked him, and took a moment to go into the bathroom, do my business and splash cold water on my face. When I came back out, Sookie was sitting up in bed, sipping a glass of water, and looking at Jason's coffee with supreme longing. I couldn't help but laugh.

Not long afterwards, the doctor came back in and examined Sookie's throat, told her she would be fine to have something other than water, and told her he'd begin filling out her release orders. She clapped and kissed Jason on the cheek when he surprised her with another full Starbucks cup that we hadn't known he'd had. A nurse brought in some forms for us to sign, and I had Sookie in the car and on the way back home by 10am.

Jason followed us to the farmhouse, and we arrived home to find Sam and Holly just finishing a raucous round of peek-a-boo with the twins. As soon as we walked in, Sookie sat down on the couch and held each of the babies close to her for a few minutes. She hadn't had a lot of quality time with them recently, and I could see that it'd been weighing on her. She quietly thanked Sam, Holly, and Jason for all their help, and I explained to them that her throat was still very raw, and it would be painful for her to speak for another day or so. They all stayed for about another hour before they all left. Sam and Holly were meeting with their wedding coordinator, and Jason wanted to get started on his house renovations.

Sookie went into the office and brought her laptop out to the couch, and pulled up a blank word processor page. She let me know that, while I was making lunch, she'd type in what had happened last night, so I could know, but she wouldn't have to actually talk. I teased that her voice was probably fine, she just wanted someone else to make lunch, but kissed the top of her head and went into the kitchen.

I began slicing some fruit for a salad, and making a couple of turkey sandwiches. About twenty minutes later, Sookie brought the twins in, put them in their high chairs, handed me the laptop, and began feeding Ryan and Hadley. I felt my anger flare up once again while reading Sookie's account of what she remembered of the night before. She had written that things got hazy for her just before I arrived, so, while I tried to calm myself down, I filled her in on the rest. I told her that I was curious as to what Alcide's goal was, and she smiled, and simply typed, 'jealousy.'

We spent the rest of the day playing with Ryan and Hadley, and just enjoying being together as a family. Everything that had happened had put things into perspective for me. It seemed that every time we turned around, something from our past was trying to rip our future away from us. There simply **had** to be something we could do to stop it from happening again.

While Sookie fed the twins supper, I went into town and picked up a movie and a pizza, and helped Sookie put the kids to bed as soon as I got back. We cuddled up on the couch together and ate and watched some horrible chick flick that I'd picked because I knew she'd enjoy it. As the credits rolled, she crawled into my lap and kissed me deeply, and I knew she appreciated my choice.

Around the time I expected her to end the kiss, she began to deepen it, instead, while slowly moving her hands underneath my shirt, along my stomach. Well, if this was the type of mood she was in, far be it for me to deny her. I allowed her to pull my shirt over my head, and let my head fall back at the feeling of my tongue on my nipples. She moved so she was straddling my hips, and began to grind her center against me. It was torture, and it was absolutely exquisite.

I stood up quickly, and in order to keep from falling, she wrapped her arms and legs around me, and I kissed her again as I walked us to the bedroom. I set her down on the bed, and had her naked as quickly as I could. She bit her lower lip, and gave her "fuck me" eyes, and I about blew my load into my pants. She was gloriously sexy, and I still couldn't believe she was mine. She scooted herself back on the bed so her head was on the pillows, and as I moved to follow her, she shook her head, and motioned for me to take my pants off. Like I could ever deny her anything she asked of me when she was naked on a bed.

I slipped my jeans off, and slowly crawled along the bed, my eyes never leaving hers. I picked her leg up, and slowly placed kisses on her skin, starting at her ankle and working my way up. When I reached her hip, I moved again, and gave her other leg the same treatment. By the time I'd made my way up the second leg, she was writing on the bed, and her hands were gripping my hair tightly. I bent and slowly ran my tongue along her center, and she bucked. I put one hand on her hip to hold her down, and began to tease her nub with my tongue while I slowly slid a finger inside of her.

Her throat must've still been bothering her, because she was doing her best not to make a single sound. Instead of moaning as she would normally do, her body was doing the talking for her, and she was twisting all over the place. It was the most erotic thing I'd ever seen. I watched, amazed, as she rode out her climax in silence, and then moved up her body and kissed her deeply, while slowly pushing myself into her.

We both let out a sigh when I was buried inside of her. We moved together, being torturously slow, still not making a sound. I'd been so turned on by her movement that I knew I wouldn't last long. I was afraid that I would reach the end without her, but, only seconds before I got there myself, I felt her tighten and pulse around me, and knew she was right there with me. I held my weight off of her with my arms as we lay there, trying to catch our breath. After a few minutes though, I slowly pulled out of her, and moved to lay next to her, pulled her to me, and she put her head on my chest. In that moment, I felt happier than I had in weeks. It wasn't long before we were both asleep.

**A/N Just a little note that we're about to the end of this one. There will only be one, or maybe two more chapters. Enjoy....and REVIEW!**


	20. Chapter 20

**SPOV**

It seemed that our many near-death experiences had reverted our relationship back to the honeymoon stage. For three days, all we did was bask in the glow of our love. Our love for each other, and our love for our children. Whenever Ryan and Hadley were awake, we were with them. Playing, reading them stories, singing to them. And when they were asleep, we made love. It was never that hard, fast, sweaty sex that I've come to thoroughly enjoy with Eric, but the slow, sensual kind. We spent hours reminding each other why we were together. It was because there was nothing on this earth that could come between us. There was no force great enough to destroy our love.

We knew that it was time to break out of our little bubble when Claude called Eric and let him know that there had been a lot of interest in the open Restaurant Manager position. So, we reluctantly packed everything up and headed back to Shreveport. Eric went to the bar with the intentions of locking himself in his office and going over resumes that had been received, so he could narrow down those he wished to interview.

I stayed at home with the twins while he was gone, and got caught up on a few emails. Claude's sister, Claudine, had been a good friend in college, and she'd written more than a few emails making sure I was okay after what had happened with Victor Madden. There were a few from some of my prior residents at Hope House. I wasn't in the habit of giving my personal contact information to the parolees I worked with, however, there were a few that I kept in touch with.

Eric returned home about 90 minutes after he'd left. "It just didn't feel right. I wasn't comfortable being away from you, Ryan, and Hadley just yet. So, I brought the resumes with me, and I figured I could work from here for the evening." I laughed when I realized he thought he had to justify his desire to be here with us, instead of by himself in his office.

We made small talk while we prepared dinner, and then we put everything else on hold as we fed the twins together. We'd decided that life was too short to spend our time with our family multi-tasking. When we were doing something with our children, they would be our only focus.

After the kids were fed, we bathed them, and got them to bed. Once they were asleep, Eric and I cuddled up on the bed together. He went through resumes, and I read a book that I'd been wanting to read for awhile, but never had taken the time. When Eric had gotten through about ¾ of the stack of resumes, he started laughing, and said, "Ha, I don't believe it! This is perfect!"

I sat up and looked at him. "What is it?"

"You'll never guess who applied for the position!"

He handed me the resume he'd been looking at, and I laughed as well when I saw the name at the top. Frannie Quinn. "That's hilarious! I had completely forgotten that she was in the restaurant business. Are you going to set her up with an interview?"

"Honestly, right now I'm thinking about just offering her the job. We both know she'd be more than capable, and she's Quinn's sister, so, we know she's trustworthy."

Since it wasn't too late, Eric called Pam to tell her about his desire to hire Frannie while I washed my face and brushed my teeth. By the time I was finished, he and Pam had agreed to simply call Frannie the next day and offer her the position. I was glad that we seemed to be moving on from the horrible events that we'd been through recently.

Eric went into the bathroom to take a shower, and when he came out, he climbed back into bed with me, and pulled me close. It felt so good to just hold one another. It wasn't long before we both drifted off into a very peaceful sleep.

**EPOV – THREE WEEKS LATER**

Things were beginning to calm down a bit, and I couldn't have been happier. Frannie was already doing a wonderful job with the restaurant, and Claude ran the bar so efficiently that I rarely had to actually be at either location. Pam had extended her stay in New Orleans a few times before she finally made the decision to pack everything up and move there. It seemed that she and Thalia had rekindled their relationship. I was relieved to see her happy again.

We'd spoken several times with attorneys concerning the incident with Alcide, and everything had been settled without having to go to court. At first, the prosecuting attorney wanted to charge him with attempted murder, considering Sookie's allergy. But, as much as I hated the guy, I just couldn't let that happen. Sookie and I knew without any doubt that Alcide had not been trying to kill her. Hell, he hadn't even really been trying to **harm** her. I truly felt that, if he'd known about her allergy, he wouldn't have done with he did.

Not that that excused his actions. He ended up pleading guilty to assault, was given 18 months probation, had to pay a huge fine, and would need to complete several hours of community service. Sookie thought that he was getting off a little easy, but, we'd made a deal to allow him no jail time, as long as he didn't press assault charges against myself or Jason. In the long run, I thought we'd made the right decision. I was fairly certain that he'd been driven to desperation after having spent several years in a loveless marriage with a lying, manipulative bitch. Again, that was not an excuse for his actions. But, I also figured that somewhere deep down, he was still capable of being a good man. After looking at everything I have with Sookie and the twins, I'm all for helping someone get a second chance. Just as long as he's nowhere near my family as he tries to reestablish himself.

Sookie found plenty of things to keep herself busy. Although she was no longer working at Hope House, she still made herself available for consultations with the other case workers there. She was also planning to throw Sam's fiancé, Holly, a bridal shower with some of the other staff as well. Plus, Jason had enlisted her help in redecorating his house once he'd finished his renovations. It seemed like she was almost always looking at paint swatches, tile samples, and appliances brochures. It was in watching her help Jason that I came up with my "Master Plan" for our future.

The house we were currently living in was the one I'd shared with Cindy, Lizzie and Mattie. The farmhouse was where she'd lived with her grandmother, brother, and cousin after her parents had died. The bar I co-owned with Pam, Hell's Inferno, was one that I had started with my sister-in-law when we first moved to Shreveport while Cindy was pregnant with Mattie, and our restaurant, Valhalla, was where Pam met Felicia. It seemed that everywhere we turned, our past lives were pressing in on us.

So, I made a few inquiries and gathered as much information as I could on what I'd hoped to do, and planned to sit down with Sookie one evening and present it to her. The perfect opportunity presented itself when the twins went to sleep a little early one night. Sookie was sitting on our bed, combing her hair and humming to herself.

"Sook, there's something I wanted to talk to you about." She looked up at me and smiled, letting me know I had her attention. I moved to sit next to her on the bed, and she curled into me and rested her head on my shoulder. "Ever since we met, before we even got the chance to fall in love, things from our past have been constantly creeping up, trying to pull us apart." I felt her stiffen in my arms, knowing she was remembering all the things we'd been through. "In hindsight, part of me sees those events as good things, because they were challenges that have made us grow closer. But, the other part of me wishes that we could've avoided so much hurt and heartache.

"We both have troubled pasts, and it's all part of what shaped who we are today. But, I'm sick and tired of the past trying to dictate our future as a family. **We** determine who we are, not outside factors." I paused for a moment to gauge her reaction. She had a look of concentration on her face, and I knew that she was trying to rapidly decide if I was right or wrong. When she turned her face to me and nodded for me to continue, I knew we were on the same page.

"I was thinking that maybe we could try and give ourselves a clean slate. Obviously, we can't just cut ties with who we were, because that's not something either of us would **want** to do. But, I think it would be good for us to start fresh with things that are **ours**, not yours or mine." She looked like she didn't quite understand what I was getting at, so, I decided to lay it all out for her.

"Sookie, the house that we live in right now, it was my house with Cindy. The farmhouse, well, that was your house with your Gran, Hadley, and Jason. The bar was something I started with Pam that was named by Cindy. We're surrounded by the past wherever we go. Now, I'm not suggesting that you sell the farmhouse. I would **never** suggest that, because I know how important it is to you. And, because Pam and I both put so much work into the bar and the restaurant, I wouldn't want to sell those, either. But, I was thinking that maybe we'd try and sell this house, and work with a contractor to design and build a home **together**. Something that was new for both of us. And, although I'd still be co-owner of the bar and restaurant, I don't want to worry about the day to day running of them anymore. I've talked to Pam a few times about selling a portion of the bar to Claude, and a portion of the restaurant to Frannie, and let them manage the businesses however they see fit, and Pam and I taking on the role of investor rather than owner."

I felt a drop of moisture on my chest, and realized that Sookie was crying. I sat her up and gently turned her so that we were facing each other. "Baby, what's wrong? Did something I said upset you? Because that truly was **not** what I was trying to do. I just thought that…." But, she placed her index finger over my mouth, effectively shushing me. She stood and went to the small desk in the corner of the room, where she had placed her laptop. She brought it back over to the bed, opened up a document, and turned the laptop so that I could see it. It was blueprints for a house.

"I've been working on this for the past few days. I wasn't sure how to bring it up, because I didn't know how you'd feel about selling this house. I also thought about talking to you about turning the farmhouse into a shelter for battered women."

I closed my eyes for a moment in silent prayer, thanking whatever force in the universe sent this wonderful woman to me. Before I got the chance to open them again, I felt Sookie lean into me, and she placed her lips on mine. She kissed me slowly, but very deeply and passionately. Once she broke the kiss, she rested her forehead against mine, and softly whispered, "I love you, Eric."

"I love you, too Sookie." I pulled my head back from hers, and smiled brightly as I said, "Now, show me what you had in mind for our new place." She turned in my arms, and we began to plan out our future. Together. As we would always be.

**THE END**

**A/N Well, there you have it! I loved writing this story, and appreciate all the wonderful comments I've received throughout. Since I neglected to mention it before, the lyrics that Sookie sang to Alcide in chapter 18 (I'm not sorry that it's over, but for the way we let it end), are from Carrie Underwood's "What Can I Say?" I own absolutely no rights to the song, and also, unfortunately, do not own any of the characters in this story. **


End file.
